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DESCRIPTION:Community Meeting for residents of Bayview Hunter\'s Pt. to talk about 
 community concerns with Matt Gonzalez, especially the proposed plan for the 
 redevelopment agency to turn over control of Shipyard  land to Lenar, a 
 giant corporate developer. This is being opposed by the 
 community.\n\nRedevelopment Planning Land Grab In Hunters Point, a 
 Gentrification Plan\nby Maurice Campbell & Barbara George Thursday N Friday 
 November 28, 2003 at 10:40 AM\n\n\nWE NEED TO MOBLIZE THE COMMUNITY NEEDS 
 YOUR SUPPORT!\n\n\n\nRedevelopment planning land grab of Shipyard and all 
 BVHP \n\n\nTell Redevelopment how you feel Tuesday, Dec. 2, 4pm, City Hall 
 Room 416 \n\nby Maurice Campbell and Barbara George \n\nThe San Francisco 
 Redevelopment Agency is making a move to grab the whole neighborhood – 
 the Hunters Point Shipyard and nearly all of Bay View Hunters Point! 
 \n\nWhile tracking efforts to ram through the agreement for Lennar to 
 develop the Shipyard, we discovered Redevelopment’s hush-hush plot to 
 gentrify practically all of BVHP. Instead of continuing to pursue its 
 longstanding plan to create a new project area, Redevelopment is quietly 
 proposing to annex the rest of Bay View Hunters Point to the existing 
 Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area through a simple-to-pass 
 amendment. That way, the Redevelopment Commission can pass it quietly 
 without full public notice and review. \n\nAt the next meeting of the 
 Redevelopment Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 2, the community is urged to come 
 out in force, because both of these issues affect our future very 
 seriously. Comment on both the neighborhood takeover “amendment” and 
 the Lennar Disposition and Development Agreement (the DDA) for the 
 Shipyard. The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. in City Hall Room 416. \n\nAsk 
 the commissioners to postpone their vote on the Lennar agreement - the DDA 
 - until the community has had its say. Many questions have been raised by 
 community groups that have not been answered. \n\nIn addition, call the 
 Board of Supervisors today and ask them to hold an informational hearing 
 before any vote by Redevelopment. The Redevelopment Agency, the City 
 Attorney and Lennar should come before the supervisors and answer the 
 community’s questions. \n\nTwo Redevelopment plans — neither benefits 
 BVHP residents \n\nThe general outline of Redevelopment’s plan for the 
 Shipyard has been known for a while, but the devil is in the details. 
 That’s why it is so important for the Supervisors to review it. What BVHP 
 residents want most — business development providing long-term jobs for 
 local residents — may be delayed for years. Upscale housing is the main 
 focus for Redevelopment and Lennar, but business is what generates jobs, 
 not expensive homes that many people in the community can’t afford. 
 \n\nNow this new annexation amendment of the Hunters Point Redevelopment 
 Project Area appears intended to clear away the low-income Black population 
 that has lived alongside the Shipyard for 60 years — with the goal of 
 increasing the future value of Lennar’s housing. \n\nNeither of these 
 projects helps the people who live here. \n\nRedevelopment’s 
 ‘amendment’ to gentrify BVHP \n\nThe proposed San Francisco 
 Redevelopment Agency Plan Amendment, dated Nov. 4, 2003, would add 1,600 
 acres to the existing 137-acre Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area. It 
 would encompass all the public and low-income housing near the Shipyard, 
 most other residential areas, the entire Third Street corridor and other 
 sections of the neighborhood all the way to Bayshore Boulevard and the 
 freeway (see map). \n\nThe Black population in San Francisco has dropped 
 from over 14 percent to less than 6 percent in this city. Bay View Hunters 
 Point remains the city’s largest predominantly Black neighborhood. In 
 Redevelopment’s brochure showing how the agency expects the neighborhood 
 to look in the future, all the people in the pictures look White. \n\nWhat 
 Redevelopment did by creating the Western Addition Project Area, bulldozing 
 thousands of Black homes and hundreds of Black-owned businesses - wiping 
 out most of the Black population and even renaming the neighborhood known 
 worldwide as the Fillmore – must not happen again! We need to make it 
 clear to the powers that be that we will not be moved. \n\nLet the 
 Redevelopment Commission know on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m. in City Hall 
 Room 416 that you don’t want any rushed decisions for acceptance of 
 either the annexation amendment or the DDA. You want time for review, and 
 you want the Board of Supervisors involved. Don’t be swayed by special 
 interests that want you to support their get-rich-quick schemes. 
 \n\nRedevelopment wants to lock in Lennar \n\nRedevelopment’s proposed 
 agreement to put Lennar Corp. in charge of the first phase of development 
 of the Shipyard is called the Disposition and Development Agreement, or 
 DDA. The DDA describes the obligations of the developer, the City and the 
 Navy, covering such topics as toxic cleanup, employment opportunities and 
 Lennar’s profits. It sets up the “horizontal” development - roads and 
 utilities infrastructure - and includes decisions on open space, housing 
 density and community facilities. \n\nThe current lame duck administration 
 is pressuring residents to approve it without seriously examining it. The 
 DDA is an enormously complicated document, over 1,000 pages, but the mayor 
 wanted the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) to 
 approve it in “30 days.” \n\nSome of us who are on the CAC objected 
 that many of the listed attachments weren’t attached and other 
 information that was promised has not been delivered. The community must 
 know what the Redevelopment Commission is being asked to sign, and it’s 
 our responsibility as the CAC to find out. \n\nWe divided into 
 subcommittees to look at different pieces of the DDA, and we held more than 
 26 meetings in the last month - because Redevelopment is in such a hurry! 
 We’ve spent over 60 days reviewing it and recommending changes and 
 additions, including community comments like “Not enough of the community 
 was notified,” “Rush to judgment,” “Not getting answers from 
 Redevelopment,” “Not seeing a very important document from 
 Redevelopment until 6pm 11/24/03, the time of our final meeting.” \n\nThe 
 Redevelopment staff has described the CAC’s recommendations, breaking 
 them down as either 1) acceptable to Redevelopment, 2) acceptable to the 
 developer or 3) other — not acceptable or requires further discussion. 
 \n\nWhat’s the rush? \n\nWhat’s the big hurry to sign an agreement with 
 Lennar? Redevelopment is acting as if Lennar is doing us a big favor by 
 coming here. The reality is that the Shipyard is some the world’s most 
 valuable real estate, and Lennar, America’s largest home builder, has 
 earned a terrible reputation by, among other travesties, building new homes 
 on its own toxic dump in Florida. \n\nRedevelopment wants to use the DDA, 
 along with the existing ENA, the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement, to lock 
 in Lennar as Master Developer for the Shipyard. The Exclusive Negotiating 
 Agreement comes up for review by the Board of Supervisors in December. By 
 postponing Redevelopment approval of the DDA until then, we can examine the 
 entire relationship with Lennar. \n\nNo transfer, no development until 
 Shipyard is clean \n\nMany obstacles must be cleared out of the way before 
 work can be started on developing the Shipyard. Most important is 
 Proposition P. Prop P is the ballot measure passed overwhelmingly by 87 
 percent of San Francisco voters in 2000 prohibiting any development of the 
 Shipyard until all toxic contamination, including all traces of 
 radioactivity, has been cleaned up and removed. \n\nIn addition, there can 
 be no transfer of any parcel of Shipyard land to the city from the Navy 
 because the Conveyance Agreement between the City and County of San 
 Francisco, the community and the Navy has not been signed. The Navy is 
 eager to transfer Parcel A, where Lennar wants to build 1,600 houses, and 
 Parcel B, but neither is clean yet. \n\nThe regulators — the EPA (U.S. 
 Environmental Protection Agency), the DTSC (California Department of Toxic 
 Substance Control) and the Water Resource Board - have not yet signed off 
 on a FOST (Finding Of Suitability for Transfer) for Parcel A. And the 
 Record of Decision on Parcel B just recently went through its five-year 
 review, which drew community comments that must be answered, and a lot of 
 cleanup work remains to be done on Parcel B. \n\nWhether you’re buying a 
 car, a home or a cell phone plan, you don’t want to cave in to the high 
 pressure salesperson and regret it later. This is no time to cave in to the 
 pressure to give up the Shipyard and all of Bay View Hunters Point. 
 \n\nAlthough this is happening in the midst of the holidays and 
 everybody’s busy, this is the time to take a stand. Give the children a 
 gift they can be proud of — a community for all the people who live here, 
 not a gentrified community for somebody else. \n\nFor more information, 
 read “Arrested Development” by Lisa Davis in the Nov. 19 SF Weekly at 
 http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-11-19/feature.html/1/index.html. The 
 DDA can be found at http://www.hunterspointshipyard.com/dda.html. 
 \n\nMaurice Campbell is the convener of the Community First Coalition and 
 is a member of the Hunters Point RAB (Restoration Advisory Board) that 
 advises the Navy and the Hunters Point CAC (Community Advisory Committee) 
 that advises the city. Barbara George is executive director of Women’s 
 Energy Matters and a community activist. Email Maurice at 
 mecsoft@pacbell.net. \n\n\n\n\n\nBy Sebastian Robles and Chris Finn 
 \n\nJust discovered plans show that Bayview Hunters Point is slated for 
 redevelopment - Fillmore/ Western Addition style. Four housing complexes 
 are already slated for destruction. So are another 14 around the City. 
 \n\nActivists have already been fighting hard against the shipyard 
 development scheme, where Willie Brown is pushing hard to give exclusive 
 rights of the best real estate to Lennar in the last month before he leaves 
 office. \n\nThis is small potatoes compared to what the Redevelopment 
 Agency has in store. Their Plan Amendments, dated November 4, 2003, seeks 
 to expand the Redevelopment Agency’s control over more than ten times the 
 area now subject to their control. Over ten thousand African Americans have 
 already been driven out of the City during the more recent development 
 boom. The plans under way, if allowed to carry through, will redevelop and 
 gentrify the remainder of the community out of town. \n\nA Crucial Election 
 \n\nThis year, the votes of Bayview Hunters Point and the African American 
 population in the City will be crucial in determining the outcome of the 
 runoff election and thus the landscape of San Francisco politics for years 
 to come. But now liberal and progressive San Francisco voters in general 
 may also have in their hands the decision whether African Americans will 
 continue to live in San Francisco. \n\nAs happened with the construction of 
 ‘low-income’ housing in other parts of the City, housing complexes will 
 be destroyed to make way for new ones. The people currently living in them 
 will obviously have to find somewhere else to live. A few might be able to 
 eventually move back, but the majority of the housing will be market rate 
 housing, with state law mandating that all new housing not be subject to 
 rent control. \n\nWhen the Third Street Light Rail is finished, if politics 
 continues as normal, rather than helping to develop the existing community, 
 “re-development” of the 3rd Street corridor will bring further 
 gentrification, pushing out African American homeowners, tenants and small 
 businesses in a similar fashion to what happened in the Fillmore District a 
 few decades ago. \n\nThis election represents a stark choice. Gavin Newsom 
 represents someone who will not only continue the policies of development 
 and big business, but become more blatant in moving the local political 
 machine further to the right. Not being as smart as Willie, and having the 
 arrogance that comes with having everything handed to him directly by big 
 money interests, he won’t feel the need to toss the community any bones 
 to keep their favor. \n\nMatt Gonzalez is not beholden to and has 
 consistently been a solid vote against those interests and types of 
 policies. This election is not just about the candidates, but about who 
 will be represented in City politics once the new mayor is sworn in and 
 whether these policies will continue or be reversed. \n\nGetting Ready to 
 Settle an Old Battle \n\nThe issues affecting Bayview Hunters Point have 
 been ongoing for decades, but have intensified in the last eight years at 
 the hands of a strong organized political machine working in the interests 
 of developers and other big businesses and speculators. After fighting 
 development and gentrification battles for the last eight years, the 
 community is eager to see a candidate that is willing to stand up to the 
 local machine for working class people and communities of color. \n\nAround 
 100 activists and members of the community turned out November 16 for the 
 opening of the Gonzalez campaign office in Bayview Hunters Point to speak 
 about the changes necessary and what it would take to make them. This was 
 not one of those well-funded offices of a candidate just paying people to 
 be there. There were no politicians from the local political machine. There 
 were no champagne or other extravagances of a campaign backed by big money. 
 The space was donated by members of the community and was packed full with 
 local activists and residents discussing with Matt the important issues 
 affecting their neighborhoods. \n\nMany of these activists and residents 
 had voted for Angela Alioto the first time around, seeing her as a civil 
 rights and anti-discrimination attorney running against Gavin Newsom and 
 the Willie Brown machine. Now that the runoff is Gonzalez vs. Newsom, many 
 of Angela’s and others’ supporters are lining up behind Matt. 
 \n\nWillie Ratcliff, publisher of the San Francisco Bayview, cites 
 Gonzalez’ willingness to represent African Americans and poor folks when 
 he was a public defender for ten years. Matt even went to jail when he 
 challenged a judge who wasn’t giving a client a fair trial. The charges 
 were later dropped. “Who else would stand up for poor black folks like 
 that?” \n\nClear Differences \n\nAfrican Americans can easily list the 
 major issues affecting them in the City – unemployment, economic 
 development, environmental justice, health issues, lack of and 
 privatization of services, police reform, education, reparations, 
 gentrification, redevelopment, and plenty others. These issues are 
 interrelated and are often tied to decisions made in the mayor’s office 
 for the benefit of developers, contractors, and big business interests at 
 the expense of the community. \n\nThe two candidates differ strongly. 
 Newsom has been supported throughout his career by oil money from the Getty 
 family. He was appointed to the Board of Supervisors by Brown to add 
 diversity – the Board apparently didn’t have any straight white rich 
 men on it at the time. Newsom has since been a reliable vote for the local 
 Willie Brown machine, voting in favor of big business and developers. 
 \n\nHe recently targeted the poor and the homeless with his Prop M, which 
 takes welfare money away from homeless people, without guaranteeing them 
 any services – basically filling the City’s budget holes with money 
 taken from the poorest people of the City. Gonzalez passed an amendment, 
 which was signed into law, guaranteeing these people get the services they 
 were promised. \n\nGonzalez initially ran against and defeated the 
 candidate handpicked by Brown in a landslide victory. He voted against the 
 big business settlement which Newsom supported, which cost the City over 
 $100 million. He has since been a reliable vote favoring working class 
 issues and the neighborhoods. \n\nAccording to the Examiner, “Gonzalez 
 said he would work to make loans accessible to minority business owners, 
 preserve affordable housing and force the closure of the two area power 
 plants. He said his work on raising the minimum wage reminded him of 
 fighting for justice as a public defender, and that the community can have 
 confidence in police only if they are held accountable.” \n\nThe Light 
 Rail project on 3rd Street is a major issue for the community. As with the 
 past history of contracting and job promises for the community, African 
 American contractors are not involved in the construction project. 
 Neighborhood activists demonstrated to force contractors to hire locally, 
 but local workers were laid off soon after the protests stopped. \n\nNewsom 
 Is Worse Than The Past \n\nNewsom’s position on these issues? Maybe 
 he’ll try to make a nice speech or tell you it’s all in a position 
 paper, or that he doesn’t have time to detail his whole position, but 
 he’s chosen as his head campaign consultant, Eric Jaye, who has run 
 several campaigns that ran completely counter to the interests of the 
 community. \n\nJaye ran the campaign for another Brown development project 
 – getting the Mills corporation exclusive bargaining rights for the Pier 
 27-31 development project. He also ran Brown’s Prop A, getting San 
 Francisco voters to approve a $1.6 billion bond to rebuild the Hetch Hetchy 
 infrastructure – when only about half of that was needed, resulting in 
 around $800,000 in slush funds paid for by San Francisco residents. Jaye 
 also managed the failed campaign to elect Andrew Lee to the Board of 
 Supervisors. Lee is one of the recent controversial Brown patronage 
 appointments to the Public Utilities Commission. \n\nThe African American 
 community knows the importance of commission appointments, something the 
 new Mayor will have control over. The Redevelopment Commission is a case 
 where all seven commissioners are appointed by the Mayor. This is the 
 commission which oversees the decisions regarding the Hunters Point 
 shipyard and has entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with 
 Lennar Corporation in a process that triggered another FBI investigation 
 into contracting schemes. \n\nDespite Federal law mandating that the Navy 
 clean the site and turn it over to the City once it was decommissioned, the 
 City did nothing to push the Navy to do so. Local activists organized in 
 2000, 26 years after the shipyard closed, to get Prop P on the ballot 
 mandating that the Navy follow through with the clean-up, winning 
 overwhelmingly. Transfer to the City is not supposed to take place until 
 the entire shipyard has been determined to be clean and safe which is 
 slated to take another five years. \n\nBrown is pushing the Commission to 
 approve granting transfer of the prime section of the shipyard property to 
 Lennar before he leaves office in January. Newsom, as part of the local 
 Democratic Party machine, will continue these politics if elected Mayor. 
 The planned amendment to the shipyard Redevelopment area would put the rest 
 of Bayview Hunters Point under the control of the Redevelopment Commission 
 and the Planning Commission, where Brown won’t tolerate even one vote of 
 dissension. \n\nGonzalez supports increasing pressure on the Navy and 
 utilizing City resources to implement Prop P. He should also push to stop 
 the ramming through of the DDA, the agreement which would hand over the 
 prime sections of the property to Lennar before the cleaning and approval 
 process is complete. \n\nThe community is fighting for community control 
 over what happens to the shipyard property. Although Lennar wants to 
 develop housing, something which is in demand in the City, this type of 
 development brings no jobs to the area and increases the fears of the 
 residents of housing developments nearby who fear eviction. The 
 ‘low-cost’ housing will be beyond what community members can afford, 
 extending the base for gentrification. Four of the housing complexes in 
 Bayview Hunters Point are slated for destruction. Statements by Gonzalez 
 that housing needs to be protected and that working class families and 
 communities of color need to be able to live in the City resonate strongly 
 with residents. \n\nGonzalez’ platform addresses many of the issues 
 facing African Americans: measures to facilitate economic development 
 (low-cost credit for small businesses through a municipal/community bank), 
 a policy of bringing Black contractors to the table, a “local hiring” 
 policy and ownership of land and underground through a type of a land trust 
 paid for by the city along the lines of the proposal for low income 
 housing. \n\nEconomic Development and Jobs \n\nGonzalez has pushed the idea 
 of a municipal bank that would provide low-cost credit to small businesses 
 and for the construction of low-income housing. This runs counter to the 
 long history of redlining and denial of credit to African Americans. 
 \n\nThe community wants to anchor local businesses within the City/African 
 American community to prevent big chain invasions and provide viable 
 alternatives. One of Gonzalez’ platform issues is to give communities 
 more control over limiting expansion of big chain stores into communities, 
 which then price out smaller community merchants and businesses. 
 \n\nGonzalez’ office originated Proposition L, raising the minimum wage 
 from $6.75 per hour to $8.50, which was passed overwhelmingly by the voters 
 on November 4 and will benefit thousands of African Americans, Latinos, 
 women and youth. Newsom did not endorse Proposition L until the last minute 
 when he saw it was well ahead in the polls, and most of his employees at 
 his more than a dozen businesses are paid minimum wages. While Gonzalez 
 favors jobs at union wages, Newsom – who recently stated he is 
 “proud” of San Francisco as a Union town – did not allow his own 
 employees to organize a union and opposes the right to a card check. 
 \n\nGonzalez wants to diversify the economy to create lasting well-paid 
 jobs for the various communities. He calls for increasing the resources 
 allocated to improving conditions for small businesses, which are more 
 likely to provide stable employment for community members. He also differs 
 with Newsom about what type of business tax structure the City should have. 
 Gonzalez favors a gross receipts tax, which only taxes big businesses once 
 they make over $800,000, instead of a payroll tax, which inhibits job 
 creation. \n\nEnvironmental Justice \n\nNow that the Mirant corporation 
 that acquired the Potrero Hill power plant from PG&E has gone under and 
 given up its attempt to retrofit its polluting plant, the road is open for 
 the City to acquire the land, close down the old generator and replace it 
 with an environmentally sound public power alternative. Newsom is reluctant 
 to speak on the issue and in the past has opposed the plant’s closure. 
 \n\nThe other old, polluting plant owned by PG&E in Hunters Point is also 
 the focus of opposition by neighborhood activists, environmentalists and 
 many parents who are concerned with health care issues for their children. 
 \n\nAt every step of the way Newsom has opposed public power – the only 
 possible scenario under which a community decision making process and both 
 production of clean energy and environmental justice could be achieved. 
 Gonzalez supports public power and has a record of advocating for 
 environmental justice. His preference is to support the development of 
 alternative energy sources. \n\nBayview Hunters Point is an ideal place, 
 because of its sunny weather, for solar panels and alternative forms of 
 energy production. Neighborhood activists are interested in the City 
 promoting or providing credit to install them in new buildings as well as 
 existent housing. Gonzalez promotes this; Newsom has not spoken about it. 
 \n\nHealth Care \n\nThis issue is intimately linked to the environmental 
 disaster created by the waste (including nuclear waste) left by the Navy, 
 the polluting power plants and the sewage disposal on the coast of Hunters 
 Point and the lack of jobs and the concomitant lack of health insurance. 
 The health care crisis in Bayview Hunters Point is reflected by its having 
 one of the highest rates in the country of breast cancer and asthma and 
 other pulmonary diseases and illnesses associated with pollution. \n\nWhile 
 the City is on record for its desire to provide health care for all San 
 Franciscans, the political machine in power, of which Gavin Newsom is an 
 integral part, has done nothing to implement such a goal. Hunters Point is 
 also badly in need of an emergency room, screening clinics and a system of 
 preventive medicine. \n\nPolice Reform \n\nWhile community members 
 celebrated the victory of Proposition H granting police reform, Newsom 
 opposed it. Recent incidents at Thurmond Marshall, where a teacher was 
 physically assaulted by police officers and the recent invasion of the 
 neighborhood by cops hurting innocent bystanders only highlight the 
 importance of police reform for the neighborhood. \n\nProposition H, 
 diminishing the power of the Mayor to appoint members of the Police 
 Commission and giving the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) some more 
 teeth to bring charges against police abuse, passed overwhelmingly in 
 Bayview Hunters Point and other predominantly African American 
 neighborhoods. Gonzalez is one of the co-sponsors of Prop H. Newsom opposed 
 it, campaigned against it, and counts on the endorsement of the POA (Police 
 Officers Association), the strongest opponent of any and all police reform. 
 Newsom limited himself to requesting more economic and technical resources 
 for the SFPD with no mention of reforming it. \n\nEducation \n\nMany 
 residents of Bayview Hunters Point favor smaller schools as a way to 
 individualize education, to allow students to excel and to help students 
 avoid violence and the gang lifestyle. Many residents mention repeatedly 
 the need of the neighborhood for more schools, elementary, middle and high 
 schools. They prioritize the need for an additional high school as Thurgood 
 Marshall is overwhelmed and receives students from all over town. \n\nMany 
 residents favor a high school to the East of 3rd Street. Gonzalez is in 
 favor of smaller schools, including a new neighborhood school in Bayview 
 Hunters Point. He is also in favor of integrating the various schools and 
 colleges in the City to ensure all residents receive the education they 
 need to get jobs and lay a foundation for sustainable economic development. 
 \n\nThe Bayview Hunters Point Reparation Act \n\nIn 2000, the Bayview 
 Hunters Point Reparations Act was put on the ballot proposing a fund 
 administered by an elected neighborhood council to provide jobs and 
 economic development for the neighborhood. \n\nThe political machine, 
 including Newsom, opposed the measure, which received 70,000 votes citywide 
 and which passed overwhelmingly in Bayview Hunters Point and other African 
 American, Latino and working class neighborhoods and communities of color. 
 Matt Gonzalez supported the initiative. \n\nBacking A Winner – But Can He 
 Win? Can WE Win? \n\nSome voters want to vote for the candidate they 
 believe will win. Some see Newsom as unbeatable, since he’s backed by the 
 local machine and millions of dollars. \n\nNewsom has been campaigning for 
 two years though, with the support of the machine and those millions, and 
 still hasn’t been able to get ahead in the polls. \n\nThe latest polls, 
 which have been successful in predicting winners in mayoral races 
 throughout the country, have shown Matt beating Newsom, and winning by a 
 large margin among voters who were undecided or voted for other candidates 
 in the November election. And Gonzalez’ campaign is still gaining ground. 
 \n\nIn the November election, Gonzalez was relatively unknown compared to 
 the other candidates. As more people focus on Matt as the opponent to the 
 local machine and status quo politics, he keeps climbing in the polls. 
 \n\nNewsom is backed by big money, with most of his donors giving the 
 maximum donations. Matt refuses to accept corporate donations and is still 
 edging ahead of Newsom. The votes of Alioto, Ammiano and Leal supporters in 
 the African American community would further increase Gonzalez’ lead. 
 \n\nTo The Polls for the Survival of Our Communities! \n\nEvery community 
 in this City needs to look at the mirror of their future in Bayview Hunters 
 Point. What is at stake there is at stake everywhere, even if not with its 
 acuteness and sharp contradictions. \n\nMillions of dollars are being spent 
 to ensure Newsom wins and big business keeps its ability to control San 
 Francisco politics at the expense of working people and people of color. 
 It’s still a dead heat, and getting the community out to vote will be the 
 determining factor. \n\nUnfortunately, San Francisco has a history of 
 flawed elections. One of the better-known examples was the election for 
 Propositions D and F for the building of the mall and new 49ers stadium. 
 \n\nThe local political machine promised jobs for the community and retail 
 locations in the new shopping mall, which never materialized. Campaign 
 precinct captains were caught voting more than once using other peoples’ 
 identities. Even dead people voted. \n\nResidents reported their homes 
 being barraged with fake voter registration documents, showing that someone 
 had illegally used their addresses to register non-existent voters. 
 \n\nReports from some residents along Third Street indicate the same is 
 happening again in this election. \n\nPeople are being paid to gather 
 signatures for absentee ballots from homeless residents who are not even 
 registered. Some told us they were told just to sign the form so that the 
 signature gatherer could get paid – it didn’t matter whether they were 
 really registered or not. It’s no surprise that Newsom’s campaign 
 manager states that this race will depend largely on absentee ballots. 
 \n\nThis isn’t just about voting for a candidate - it’s about voting to 
 end the local machine politics. It’s about fighting for working class 
 people and communities of color to be able to stay in the City. \n\nWe know 
 what happened to the African American community in the Fillmore/ Western 
 Addition; we know we lost thousands of families more in the more recent 
 development boom. We’ve been fighting these politics for decades, and 
 especially the last eight years. \n\nWe cannot afford the luxury not to 
 show up on December 9. Let’s fill the polling places with lines of 
 progressives, people of color, immigrants, labor and young voters and fill 
 the voting machines to the hilt with the votes in solidarity with Bayview 
 Hunters Point and with the African American community and for a progressive 
 left Mayor. \n\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/11/28/27653.php
SUMMARY:Bayview Hunter\'s Pt. Community Mtg w Matt Gonzalez, esp Shipyard Gentrification
LOCATION:Hunter\'s Point Rally at Milton Myer\'s Auditorium,	195 Kiska Ave. 
 Hunter\'s Point 
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/11/28/27653.php
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