San Francisco Examiner
A ballot initiative that would have encouraged San Francisco Unified School District to move to a system of neighborhood schools lost by a razor-thin margin after Thursday’s final ballot count, but supporters vowed to continue their fight next year, when four school board members are up for re-election. “It will be a wedge issue in the coming school board election, we will make sure of it,” said Chris Miller, chair of San Francisco Students First, the group that put the measure on the ballot. “It will be our goal to make sure that every incumbent running next year is not re-elected.”
An opponent of a Santa Clara plan to spend public funds to build a football stadium filed a lawsuit that seeks to remove or alter an upcoming ballot measure for funding. If Santa Clara voters approve Measure J on June 8 ”” named the Santa Clara Stadium Taxpayer Protection and Economic Progress Act ”” their city plans to contribute redevelopment funds and new hotel taxes toward a $937 million stadium.
Mayor Gavin Newsom is again attempting to shake up the June 8 ballot, asking the Board of Supervisors to pull a measure that would make it easier for tenants to dodge rent increases during the recession. Newsom is delivering a letter to the Board of Supervisors today asking them to withdraw their sponsorship of the proposed ballot measure that would amend The City’s rent ordinance to allow renters who lost their jobs or had their wages cut to apply for a financial hardship, which would defer any rent increases they might face.
Paying more sales tax and shelling out an additional vehicle license fee are two items edging closer to the November ballot for San Francisco voters to consider. The City has a proposed budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, but expected state cuts and next year’s projected revenue shortfall make deeper cuts inevitable if there are no additional revenue sources found. There’s broad support for a local vehicle license fee ”” which could only be imposed pending the passage of state legislation ”” that could generate about $43 million a year.