♪ ♪ >> hello, welcome to the meet your district supervisor. i'm nona melkonian and we're

here with supervisor katy tang for supervisor 4 which includes central and outer sunset. supervisor tang was appointed by mayor ed lee to serve as district 4 representative replacing previous supervisor carmen chu after she was appointed assessor reporter that same month. before her appointment she served as legislative aide to supervisor chiu. today you'll get to know her and the issues facing the city. welcome, supervisor. thank you for join using us. >> thank you for having me. >> let's start with a little about your background. where you grew up, went to school and what kind of jobs you had in the past. >> sure, i grew up in the sunset district. still live there. spent about 20 years living in the sunset district and just am so proud to be able to represent the district that i grew up in and where my parents still live. i had gone through the public education system and went to neighborhood schools throughout the sunset district. so, had gone to francis scott

key elementary school, hoover middle school, lowell high school and am just so proud to be able to come back full circle to support a lot of those schools that i went to and be part of that community in a very integral way. >> so, you spent most of your life in san francisco. why did you choose to live in the city? >> well, first of all, my parents decided to move us to the sunset district because they really wanted my brother and i to have a really good and safe r growing up. there were a lot of children and families in the sunset district and i think they felt like it would be the best environment for us to grow up. so, we ended up staying out there and fell in love with it and have a lot of pride after especially working for the sunset district as the electricity i have aide to supervisor chiu for over five years. and working with -- very intimately with a lot of community members, the merchants, our local residents who have, you know, interest in things such as public safety or

public transportation, our school communities, our parks and play grounds, just really been such a wonderful experience working with them. so, i just really enjoyed that work experience as well as my own experience growing up there. >> how has your experience as aide to supervisor chiu prepared you for the board of supervisors? >> i think that i probably don't have a learning curve on having worked in the district so long and having grown up there. i think that it's been really beneficial knowing who to go to to ask certain questions, or, you know, learning how to read pieces of legislation, for example, knowing what the issues are that the city has faced. i think that those have all been really helpful experiences during this transition. >> what motivated you to get involved in politics? >> i've always wanted to be involved in whichever community i'm in. for example, what ix in school i was in student government and, so, working in city hall was one of my first jobs, actually, out of college. and, so, i have been doing -- i

have been working at city hall for over six years now and i just feel very much pride in working for the city that i live in. >> where do you place yourself on the political spectrum, are you progressive, centrist, or more on the conservative side? >> i think i'm probably more of a moderate person. i think that our district, again, lots of families and children, seniors, immigrant community, and i think that we tend to be more classified as, you know, fiscally responsible, i would say. and, again, having my experience in working for the mayor's budget office, for example, prior to working for the board of supervisors, i think that gave me a really great background in terms of how the city works, how the city's budget is put together. and those really -- that experience has really influenced my decision-making process. >> and speaking of the city's budget, the city just enacted a two-year budget and it seems the city is always dealing with complicated issues including whether or not to raise taxes and fees.

how will you approach these tough choices? >> i think that when we talk about raising fees or taxes, we always have to come at it from a very balanced approach. we have a lot of homeownerses, we have a lot of tenants in the city. and, so, again balance is really key. i think we also have to approach the budget and some tough fiscal issues looking at the city-wide budget as a whole and not just looking at specific sectors or issue areas that we real have i to look at the city's financial standing as a whole for the long term. that's really important and that's definitely what drives a lot of my decision-making process. and i think it's also tougher in san francisco because we really are held to a very high standard where we have to balance the budget every single fiscal year. we cannot run into a deficit in the new fiscal year. we cannot print more money. we are held to a high standard by our charter and, so, i think that's why these tough decisions are made every year rent. >> what other issues do you feel are facing san francisco? >> i think for san francisco

and also elsewhere, one of the biggest issues right now is really how do we ~ attract economic development and spur job creation. and those are two things that really go hand in hand and really is what makes the city vibrant and a place where people want to live and can afford to live. and i think that keeping those city-wide goals in mind, to really want to try to also make sure that locally we support our small businesses and all merchants, for example, give economic benefits and help create jobs as well. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development? do you feel we're on the right track? >> i think we're on a very exciting time right now in san francisco where we have a lot of energy in terms of businesses and especially the tech industry wanting to locate in san francisco and that's something that we really haven't seen as much in the past after the dot-com boom. and, so, we are in a very exciting time and we really see a transformation going on in our city because of that. >> what would you like to see

change about the city's approach to developing its economy? >> i think that really depends on the changing times. and there isn't sort of one solution for the entire city. it real i depends on kind of what the dynamics are going on with the economy as a whole in the region. not just looking at san francisco, but really as a regional body. >> sometimes district issues are different than zvi issues. what do you feel are some of the biggest issues facing your district? ~ city >> i think because we have a lot of children, families, seniors in our district, they care a lot about your quality of life issues, right. and it's the reason why people choose to live there. they want to make sure that your streets are repaved, that our potholes are filled, that public transportation works for you, that, you know, your parks and play grounds are safe for your children to play in, students can go to local schools. i think that those are all important issues facing district 4 and will continue to. >> how have you balanced the needs of your district versus the needs of the city as a whole? >> i think that as a district

supervisor, we play that balancing act every single day in our jobs. and we respond to all of the constituent needs, whether they doll us, whether they e-mail us or talk to us in person about a problem, we try to sort of bridge the resources that are in the city and help connect them with whichever department it is they might need to be connected with to resolve their issue. ~ but also at the same time we are city-wide representatives and we vote on legislation every week that impact everyone in the entire city. i think that when we take those votes, for example, we keep our district interests in mind and how they might want us to best represent them on city-wide issues. >> you mentioned transportation and muni earlier. what do you see about transportation for your constituents, is there enough needed service? >> i think especially given the fact the sunset district is located so far from the central portion of the city, that transportation is difficult for them. and as you know, there are some issues with switch backs for example on muni and folks

feeling like, you know, they don't have adequate service down to the end of the line. so, i have worked with mta and we're trying to figure out solutions to address that. but i think overall our residents really just want to make sure that they can get from where they need to go from the sunset district or back home via public transportation. >> what about parking and traffic? >> i think that the sunset district typically has a little bit more pricing than some other districts. there are always pedestrian safety issues we have to watch out for. our district has boulevard, we have sunset boulevard. we were also have 19th avenue and great highway. and, so, those are actually state highways that -- except for sunset boulevard, but the three are state highways that run through our district. and, so, when you have that, we have seen some fatalities along some of those corridors and, so, we work very closely with the state agency, our local agencies to see what sort of pedestrian improvements can be

made to help make it more safe for feev l. so, for example, maybe it means that we install more pedestrian countdown signals or install sidewalk build outs so that we can shorten the distance for pedestrians to cross the streets. or lowering of speed limits. so, all of those things we try to look at comprehensively throughout the district to people can travel safely whether you're a pedestrian, cyclist or driver. >> speaking of safety, what are your thoughts on how the city is dealing with crime, especially in your district and how do you think the police department is doing? >> we work very closely with our local police station which is terraville police station. we have community groups in the sunset. they have formed out of response to concern of public safety in the neighborhood and i think that generally speaking the sunset district has lower crime levels than many of the other parts of the city. however, because we are bordering ocean beach and golden gate park, we do have

pockets of problem areas. and, so, our neighbors are the first to alert us and the police station when there are issues and the police has been very responsive to that. >> what kind of issues are you having with ocean beach or golden gate park? >> i think that because it's so far from the center of the city and because there is so much open space, we do see a lot of encampments in those areas. some neighbors express issues with safety and feeling safe in their neighborhood and, so, they have worked very closely with our terraville station to make sure they monitor those regularly. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development? >> so, in terms of economic development, i think our city is in a very, again, exciting time right now where we are able to attract a lot of businesses who want to locate here in san francisco. you know, we have seen a recent wave of technology companies that have located here in our downtown core area and it's really transformed our neighborhoods.

and i think that as we continue to keep drawing talent and those kind of companies that are city's economic state will continue to grow. >> speaking of growth in our city, how do you feel about the role of the warriors coming to san francisco and the plans for the new stadium? >> so, the warriors and the plan for the new stadium, you know, the project approvals and the environmental review report will actually have to go through the board of supervisors. so, i'll have to make my decision then. but the prospect of something like that would be very exciting for the city, i think, not only as an economic engine but also in terms of san francisco's cultural history. >> to a degree, do you feel the city should subsidize the team? >> i think that negotiations are still to be sorted out and i think that all of that is in the works. but it's something that i'll pay close attention to. >> what would you like to see change in the city's approach to developing its economy? >> you know, i think that san francisco is a very creative

city and we tend to be on the cutting edge of issues, right? and i think that to that extent of our administration and our various departments such as the office of economic and work force development have always thought of creative approach he that might be new for the region to, for example, attract new businesses or, you know, other sorts of financing mechanisms. and i think that we will continue to do that in san francisco. >> well, are there any other issues that you plan to concentrate on throughout your term as supervisor? >> yes, i believe that having worked, you know, for many years in the district 4 office and now as supervisor, over time we have felt that, you know, many times we are very reactive to a lot of the problems that are presented our way and i want to really make sure that during my term i would love to do some long-term planning for the district to make sure that we think maybe 5, 10, 15 years out and think ahead, you know, now and start the planning work and laying the foundation for things we want to do in the future.

>> what are some of your ideas? >> i will be engaging in a community process where we focus on some of our key issue areas that we care a lot about in the district and working with them to kind of layout the groundwork for what we envision for our district in the future. >> we're almost out of time. but it's been great chatting with you. thank you so much for joining us today on sfgov tv's meet your supervisor. >> thank you for having me. >> we've been talking to supervisor tang from district 4. watch for the next episode of meet your district supervisor when we'll be back with another round of our 11 city supervisors. sore sfgov-tv, i'm nona melkonian. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ hello, welcome to meet your district supervisor. i'm nona melkonian and we're here with supervisor london breed from district 5 which includes the inner sunset, haight/ashbury, lower haight, western addition, japantown, and part of hayes valley. supervisor breed is one of two new supervisors elected in 2012. today we'll get to know her and talk about the toughest issues facing the city. welcome, supervisor. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you is for having me. >> let's start talking a little about your background, where you drogue up, went to school and what kind of jobs you had in the past. >> well, i grew up in the heart of the western addition. i grew up in public housing in the western addition. my grandmother raised me and my brothers and i went to public schools here in the city. ended up at u.c. davis and graduated and immediately returned back to the community and started working for the

mayor's office of neighborhood services, and worked on treasure island, and eventually became the executive director of the african-american art and culture complex located in the western addition, a place i participated in programs in the arts as a kid. so, it was really an honor to be able to work directly in the community, to impact so many lives. and i really thoroughly enjoyed that experience. >> you've lived most of your life in san francisco. why did you choose to live in the city? >> i chose because it's my home. it's just a place i love the most. i pretty much only lived outside the city when i went to college and i came home almost every weekend on the greyhound bus. and i just love san francisco. it's an amazing place, it's a beautiful city. it's nothing like coming across that bridge and seeing the city and feeling like, i'm home, or coming from any part of anywhere, whether you're on a plane, whether you're on a bus, whether you're in a car, just to see the skyline of the city,

it's just always made me feel at peace. and, so, i can't imagine myself living anyplace else. >> what motivated you to get involved in politics? >> well, as i said, i grew up in public housing and i experienced a lot of sad times as some people are still experiencing, whether it's crime and violence, issues of despair, issues of hopelessness. i mean, that still continues to plague many of our public housing residents today. and, so, it's really challenging when this is the way that i pretty much spent most of my life. and when i think about the challenges people still are going through, i know that the only way to make changes to those types of issues is to actually be a part of the decision making body of this city. and, so, what motivated me in the past has always been about making sure that i wasn't the only one that had an incredible opportunity to

participate in the city, to have a great life in the city. i felt like there were too many of my peers that should have had this same opportunity. and, so, it's a big reason why i decided to participate in politics. >> you mentioned you were the executive director of the african-american arts and culture complex. how has that experience as well as the experience of serving on two commissions prepared you for the board of supervisors? >> well, i did serve on the san francisco redevelopment agency commission and the fire commission and i was really fortunate to run this great center. and all of those experiences, running a nonprofit, being on a commission, working for the city, responding to constituents, doing the kind of things many folks are doing every single day to make our city better -- i mean, i don't see a better preparation than that for becoming a city supervisor. the nonprofit world is a very challenging community to work in because of the fund-raising involved, because of the need

for such great programs. so, to be in the middle of that and to advocate for an incredible community asset, to work with city departments, to attain funding, i mean the list goes on and on. so, over the years i've been fortunate to develop some incredible relationships with city department heads and other city commissioners who helped me to do some of the great work i've been able to do in the community. so, it's somewhat of a natural progression and i think all of that entails really helped me to be -- it's going to help me in my role as supervisor and it actually helped me get here. >> the district 5 race for supervisor was an especially eventful one this time around. what did you learn amidst all that controversy and all that competition? >> i think that what i learned is that we have an incredible district of people who can see what's genuine, who can see when someone really cares and has a heart for the community. and i think that's -- that was demonstrated in who they decided to elect.

i mean, regardless of personalities or ideology, what have you, people know when you really care. and i think that came across in my campaign. and, so, what i learned is to respect the voters and respect how they feel about candidates, whether it's me or anyone else. i want to make sure that they are given the options and they are able to make the choice that they choose, and that once the election is over, we move on and do what we need to do to make our city better. >> where do you place yourself on the political spectrum? are you more progressive, centrist, or more on the conservative side? >> that's a really challenging question because, i mean, throughout the campaign i made sure that i didn't define myself as either because i think that what it does is in a lot of ways, it divides our city. i think clearly when you have a desire to run, you have a desire to serve. you really care about what happens in san francisco. you just have a different way of which you believe we should go about doing that.

and i just think that i don't necessarily see myself in one particular category because i have different feelings about different situations based on my various experiences of growing up in the city. and, so, my, my, my commitment to san francisco trumps any ideaology i might have. i mean, i'm going to need to make decisions that impact people's lives. i have to make sure that i'm being responsible in those decisions and i can't let ideology get in the way of that. >> it seems the city is dealing with complicated issues. what do you feel are the issues facing san francisco right now? >> i think there are a few big issues in particular. my priority is public housing. the fact that it's a neglected community is really a problem for me. the fact that they're still dealing with rodent infest asian and some of the challenges of job opportunities, i think this city is a wealthy city. we spend a lot of money on social services in our city.

~ but why are these social services not impacting people's lives the way it's changing people's lives for the better? i want to make sure that we work with residents and we work to help them grow within public housing and to not be plitioned out of the city as a result. i think that's one of the big issues. the other issue is connecting people to job opportunities. long-term employment, stable employment, employment that gives people dignity, that gives them pride. i mean, everyone wants to take care of their family. and sadly, people are sometimes pushed into a life of crime because that's the easy route to obtaining money. i mean, it was really easy for me as a kid to choose to sell drugs because everyone around me was selling drugs. wasn't easy for me to get a job because i didn't have a lot of examples of people working other than my grandmother who was working as a maid, or other folks i saw working at the grocery store. so, for me i just felt like, okay, drugs is easier, you can easily go out on the corner and

stand and sell drugs. but luckily, because of the mayor's youth employment and training program, i got a job at age 14, started working at the family store, working with some incredible people. and because of that opportunity i'm here today. and i think we need to make these opportunities more readily available to folks in public housing. >> you mentioned working on the redevelopment commission for five years. now that the state has eliminated redevelopment agencies, do you think that the board of supervisors and the mayor is really doing enough to serve the city's housing needs? >> well, i think you can never do enough. i mean, there's still a lot of folks that are homeless. but i do think that san francisco is leading the way to innovative policies that can really help change things for the better post redevelopment. i think that the affordable housing trust fund is a step in the right direction and is something that no one else is doing all over the state. i think that the fact that san francisco is so committed to affordable housing, we already

had resources where we were invested in affordable housing in the city. but more importantly, we're looking at revamping public housing and how that is a bigger picture of affordable housing long term for san francisco. we're looking at public-private partnerships. i just think san francisco is really leading the way. and could we do enough? you know, i mean, you can never do enough until everyone has a decent, clean, respectable place to live. i think san francisco is clearly leading the way to it that. >> oftentimes city issues and district issues are not one and the same. what are some of the biggest issues you feel are impacting your district? >> well, the challenges of homelessness, of folks that are in the kind of upper haight community, making sure that we are providing resources to this population, more aggressively than we have, making sure that we are cracking down on folks who might be breaking the law

and making it really challenging for not just other homeless people, but for folk who live in the community, making sure we're activating that area so that families feel safe and being a part of that community. i think that's a huge challenge. the other challenge, one that i dealt with even before i became supervisor, are the access to job opportunities, access to long-term job opportunities, and how do we prepare people who have never worked a job before in their entire life for long-term job opportunities? what does it mean to show up on time? what does it mean to keep your pants pulled up and take off your hat and not talk back to your boss, what does all that mean? i think what we have done as a city is focus too much on, okay, where the opportunities, local hire, which are all great programs. but the part that's missing is how do we get people prepared and how do we keep them employed. what are the long-term plan of job opportunities in san francisco look like for local san franciscans? so, i think those are probably

two of the most pressing issues and the city overall of course is housing and it's one that we've all taken a lot of steps to try and deal with. >> the city just recently enacted a two-year budget and itals seems the city is dealing with a lot of complicated issues including whether or not to raise fees and taxes and where to make cuts. how would you approach these tough choices? >> well, fortunately i've been in the nonprofit world. i've been actively engaged in the community. i know the programs that are actually effective in serving residents. i understand what the need is from first-hand experience. and, so, i just would want to make sure that i'm paying very close attention to detail, knowing exactly what these programs provide, knowing exactly what's to be the partners, where the wasteful spending, how we can cutback so we can make sure we are funding the programs and the departments that need the money the most. so, it's going to be a really delicate balance. i know i have a really challenging job ahead of me. but fortunately there are other

supervisors on the budget committee that also have a first-hand experience. so, i think it's going to be a tough budget process, but i think working together and looking at everything, whether it be site visits to programs or digging deep into folks' budget and talking to their -- the people that they serve and a number of other things, it's going to take a well-rounded approach at making these kinds of decisions and so i'm up for the challenge. >> speaking of well rounded approaches, how will you attempt to balance the needs of the district versus the needs of the city as a whole? >> for me that's easy because san francisco, the entire city, is my home. i grew up here. i know -- i went to galileo in the marina, my family lives all over the city. i can't do something that positively impacts district 5, but i can make it impact san francisco as a whole. so, whatever decisions i make,

it's a no-brainer. i have to make sure that it's going to positively impact the city as a whole. and that's just how i view every decision that i make through that particular lens. >> let's talk a little about your district in particular. what do you hear about transportation from your constituents? is there adequate muni service? >> well, it's funny that you mention muni. [laughter] >> and let me just say this. as someone who caught -- i mean, we caught muni -- when i was growing up in the city, i mean, that's how you got around. and there were some real problems with muni. i've talking about just -- i mean, the buses were always dirty, they were always packed. there was just always some challenges and the city is growing clearly. and we need to look at all modes of transportation and how we allow people to move around the city safely. and part of that is making sure that muni is running well. and i know in particular the m judah has been a real challenge. and we have come very close to

securing revenue for an additional m judah train, as well as looking at express options and place where the most heavily used bus stops are. so, looking at express trains and other alternatives to make sure that we're moving people around in a more efficient way so that they feel comfortable with using public transportation as their source of transportation. i think everyone in the city is prepared to bike, to use public transportation, to walk, to ride share, but we have to make it a lot more convenient for people. and it's going to be an ongoing improvement process because we're building more housing units. we're bringing more people into the city for job opportunities. but we're not increasing the needs around public transportation and transportation in general as significantly as we are doing those other things. so, we're going to have to take a really hard look at our priorities around transportation and really aggressively deal with those things. >> and speaking of safety, what do you hear about crime in your

district and are you happy with what the police department is doing and how the city is dealing with crime? >> well, fortunately because of the new academy classes, we actually got a number of additional off certificates in district 5. that has definitely had -- it's had a big impact on the district. i mean, we are way past the point of what we used to be, and that is a place where homicides were happening regularly, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly. and sadly, we've lost a lot of young people not only to that sort of violence, but to the criminal justice system. and it's a different district. now we're dealing with iphone thefts and other quality of life issues, home invasions and things like that. and i think with the additional police officers and also the foot patrols and some of the things that seem