Jake McGoldrick: Position on election issues

This year's November ballot will keep me busy as I am heavily involved with many propositions. Here is a bit about the measures that I feel most strongly about.

Proposition P Ð Changing the Composition of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) Board
The mayor has proposed to take over the SFCTA, seizing control of huge sums of money to use as a personal piggy bank. This ballot measure would give the mayor unprecedented control over the governance of the SFCTA.

The SFCTA is an independent state created entity, formed in 1989 to oversee billions of dollars generated by a voter-approved one-half-cent sales tax increase to invest in transit and transportation needs. The SFCTA jointly funds local and regional programs, including BART, CALTRANS, CALTRAIN, Transbay Joint Powers Authority and Muni.

By a 75 percent supermajority, the voters recently reauthorized the one-half-cent sales tax with an expenditure plan to fund more than 70 transit and transportation programs and projects under a governing board independent of any mayor.

The SFCTA was created to prevent the use of billions of transit dollars as political pork.

Myself, along with the entire SF Board of Supervisors, senators Carol Migden and Leland Yee, assemblymembers Fiona Ma and Mark Leno and groups such as the Sierra Club, SF Bicycle Coalition, SF Democratic Party and Harvey Milk Democratic Club, are all working to make sure this ballot measure is defeated.

Proposition A - San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center Earthquake Safety Bonds
San Francisco General Hospital must be rebuilt to meet seismic standards or face closure as early as 2013. The most efficient, cost-effective way to meet these standards is to construct a new acute-care hospital building on hospital grounds.

As the only trauma center in San Francisco, General Hospital is the only acute-care facility in the City whose staff is equipped, trained and prepared to respond to any life-threatening injury or catastrophic illness, from car accidents to natural disasters to public health emergencies.

It is also San Francisco's hospital for all. Dedicated doctors and nurses deliver state-of-the-art medicine to all needing care. It is essential to our city's pioneering initiative to provide universal health care to our uninsured residents. It treats 1,500 patients a day and nearly 100,000 per year.

Proposition C - Prohibiting City Employees from Serving on Charter Boards and Commissions
I believe this is a very important policy that needs to be implemented to ensure that each commissioner on a board or commission is as objective as possible.

A city employee serving as a commissioner or board member may be asked to vote on issues that concern the department or agency that they work for, possibly clouding their judgement. Such a conflict can make it very difficult for them to make an unbiased decision. We should not put city employees in this extremely untenable position.

The issues that are faced and important votes that are cast on these commissions and boards can have a huge impact on the citizens of San Francisco. San Franciscans need to be assured that the people representing them are free from excessive influence.

Proposition F - Holding All Scheduled City Elections Only in Even-Numbered Years
For voters, the sheer number of elections in San Francisco is almost overwhelming. Over the last 40 years, there have been up to three elections a year. Voter fatigue is apparent when you take a look at the numbers.

On average over the last 40 years, only 40 percent of registered voters cast ballots in municipal elections in odd-numbered years. On the other hand, in even-year elections, 70.45 percent of voters on average turn out to vote for the president; 61.35 percent of voters on average turn out to vote for governor.

By combining odd-year and even-year elections, Prop. F will ensure that a much larger, more vibrant and more diverse body of voters will choose San Francisco's leaders and make decisions on policies that affect every resident.

The numbers don't lie: The turnout in the November 2007 election was the lowest ever - 35 percent. That means a very low number of voters in San Francisco chose the elected officials who hold the offices of mayor, sheriff and district attorney.

Additionally, this measure will save the City millions of dollar - more than $3 million every two years.

Jake McGoldrick is a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1.