Jim Meko

Jim Meko – District 6 Supervisor Candidate

Jim Meko’s Website: www.mekounites.com

Contact Jim Meko: d6meko@comcast.net

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Fun Facts About Jim Meko:

• A Resident of District 6 for over 33 years.

• Co-owner of the Best Impression commercial print shop since 1981.

• Chair, Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force, 2004 – Present.

• Member of the Board of Directors, Friends of City Planning, 2007 – Present.

• Commissioner of the SF Entertainment Commission, 2003 – Present.

• Chair, SOMA Leadership Council, 2000 – 2010.

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From Jim Meko’s Website:

Jim Meko is a respected community organizer. He’s passionate about preserving and enhancing our existing neighborhood character, practical about providing ample opportunities for smart growth, and committed to ensuring that everyone has a chance to participate in determining the future of their own community.

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LiveSOMA.com’s Candidate Questionnaire:

Which part of the district do you currently live, and how long have you lived there?

I’ve lived here in District 6 since I arrived in the City over 33 years ago in March 1977. I have lived on 10th Street in Western SOMA since 1977, and I have operated my print shop, The Best Impression, on the ground floor of the same building in which I live for the past 29 years.

What is your favorite restaurant in District 6, and why?

The District is full of fine and fancy restaurants, but I’d have to say that AK Subs at 8th and Harrison is still my favorite. Good food and a great mix of working class and professional types. They almost lost me during the dot com days when the entire staff of startup companies would take over four or five tables at lunch time, but things have leveled out well and I eat there at least twice a week.

Tell us something about you (the “individual”, not the “candidate”) that we may not know.

I used to play 12-string guitar. Sang in various coffee houses around the Midwest for a couple years during my college years.

Describe your campaign platform in 150 words or less?

I believe District 6 voters deserve a Supervisor who is loyal to them over any special interest group or powerful political machine. I believe District 6 voters deserve a Supervisor who has lived in this District for more than just a few months. I believe District 6 voters deserve a Supervisor who understands planning, zoning, and land use issues since the quality of life in our neighborhoods is significantly impacted by the decisions made by the Planning Department.  I believe we need to create more housing units that our teachers, nurses, and blue collar workers can afford to rent and buy. I believe we need to make sure persons with AIDS have housing and receive the medications they need to live a dignified life. I believe we need to improve pedestrian, bicycle, and public transit in order to improve our air quality and general quality of life in District 6.

Are the majority of your District 6 Supervisor Campaign Donors from within District 6? (A ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer is fine.)

The last time I checked, our campaign had the greatest percentage of District 6 contributors of any campaign. This is a grassroots campaign.

What do you feel is the most important issue in District 6, and what is your position on the issue?

Vital city services are being cut because career politicians keep talking about the need for pension reform without doing anything to save the taxpayers money. Unlike Jane Kim, Theresa Sparks, and Debra Walker (as of the June 23rd SFYD District 6 Candidate Forum), I am supporting Jeff Adachi’s Sustainable Pension Reform measure because it addresses a problem that almost everyone agrees exists and it will save $170 million each year starting immediately in January 2011. We must stop talking and start taking action to save our vital City services.

Thinking about the most important issue that you listed above, how do you plan to work on that issue, and what do you feel will be the biggest challenge(s) that you’ll face in solving the issue?

The unions have pulled out all the stops trying to kill Jeff Adachi’s Sustainable Pension Reform measure on November 2nd. I stand firmly with Adachi (and the majority of San Francisco residents) in supporting the measure. Other ways of increasing revenues include extending the operation of parking meters to Sundays, using the variable rate parking meters to a higher degree once they’re proven as a successful solution in the current SF Park test areas, and passing the $10 Vehicle License Fee measure on the Novemer ballot.

How will fixing the issue benefit District 6?

District 6 is home to many residents who rely on the very city services being cut every year in order to pay for retiree pensions and benefits that past politicians promised without any accountability. The $170 million freed up by Jeff Adachi’s measure can help to implement to the new routes recommended as a result of SFMTA’s Transit Effectiveness Project (in addition to cutting those routes that were proven inefficient). Instead of requiring youth groups like United Playaz to rent a storefront, the funds saved by Adachi’s measure could help move them back to the Gene Friend Recreation Center. When SFPD police officers retire from the force, we could hire new officers to replace them so that we do not permanently decrease the headcount at SFPD as we do right now. Most importantly, the Adachi pension reform would be a big step towards maintaining the street cleaning, public safety, and road maintenance rather than cutting those services further.

List the neighborhood groups or organizations (within District 6) that you have worked with in the past. What do you consider your accomplishments while working with these groups, and how you would help them further if you were elected Supervisor in November?

I was a founder of the SOMA Leadership Council, where all the stakeholders (residents, businesses, developers, etc.) from all parts of SOMA, from South Beach to Sixth Street, to the North Mission, can meet and strategize about things important to the neighborhood.  I provided advice to the Rincon Hill Neighborhood Association over the past 2 years on several planning and land use issues. I’ve been attending and providing input at the meetings of the South Beach/Rincon/Mission Bay Neighborhood Association for the past 2 years. I’ve also worked with the South of Market Business Association (SOMBA), Clementina Cares, SoMa Forward, the South Park Improvement Association, South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), the Late Night Coalition, Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods, and many other District 6 neighborhood groups.  More broadly, I meet with other neighborhood advocates every Friday as part of Neighborhood Network, as I’ve done for the past 7 years.

There’s a lot of talk about “progressive values and agenda items” vs. “moderate values and agenda items” in San Francisco politics. What do these terms mean to you, and how does either side help District 6 residents today, as well as over the long term?

To avoid such squabbling in the SOMA Leadership Council, we decided that the Council wouldn’t take any action without unanimous support. That meant that both moderates and progressives actually had to listen to each other, figure out what the other side really wanted, and try to come up with something that everybody could support.  The Western SOMA Citizens Planning Task Force, which I chair, consists of 26 various stakeholders. Before we began the planning process we spent considerable time developing a vision and values that united rather than divided the process.

In general, I believe progressive values give residents and other stakeholders impacted by public policy an opportunity to shape that public policy decision whereas so-called moderate values tend to railroad changes into neighborhoods without asking for input from those who will be impacted.  I respect my neighbors and I will always seek input from the parties most affected by a change before making a decision on that change.  As a matter of fact, a certain Supervisor’s attempt to railroad a nightlife District into South of Market in the mid-1990s without consulting my neighbors is what provided the fuel for my neighborhood activism.

If you become supervisor, will you spend equal time meeting with both the San Francisco Tenants Union and the Small Property Owners of San Francisco before proposing more rent control legislation?

Yes, I intend to listen to people from all sides of any issue that comes before the Board.

We keep hearing about million dollar condos being built and SROs moving into the neighborhood – If elected, what do you intend to do about housing for the middle class?

That’s a hard question. Mark Leno’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance provides some ownership opportunities for middle class folks, but you have to be lucky to get one of those. Mixed-income developments have worked elsewhere, but the city doesn’t have enough money to build all the low and middle income housing we would need, and I fear that housing for those in the middle would come at the expense of housing for the poor.

The old zoning for the Sixth Street corridor (RSD) provided incentives to build middle class housing but corruption in the planning process ruined any chance that it would work. The Eastern Neighborhoods Plan abolished these incentives. Land trusts might be a partial solution.

There are a number of residents in the middle of SOMA (between 4th and 6th streets, and Harrison and Folsom Streets) who are concerned about a specific SRO that is relocating from the Tenderloin to the corner of 5th and Harrison. What are your thoughts on SRO Swaps particularly with regards to rules and regulations? How should they be managed? What rules and regulations should apply to ensure a safe and vibrant community in the future?

I am heartbroken that we’re allowing one more SRO hotel to be built in South of Market. We established a far better form of low income housing in the mid-90s, sometimes called market-rate SROs, that bypassed the group housing code and brought it under the housing code. Small studios with individual bathrooms and cooking facilities in every room provide much more dignified housing.

Anything else that you would like to share about yourself or your campaign platform with the residents of District 6?

This is a very important election because the developments planned within District 6 will last for the next 50-100 years and choosing a Supervisor who is loyal to the District, who knows the people of the District, who has a deep understanding of planning, zoning, and land use, and who is not just running to further my political career, is as easy as voting for Jim Meko as your first choice.

While I may not be pretty and might not be a showboat, I know my stuff, know the players in San Francisco, and will always do what is best for the most residents of District 6 instead of the special interests.  While the so-called front-runners either just moved into the District within the last few months and/or owe their loyalty to the special interest groups that are donating tons of money to get them elected, I will be beholden only to the residents of District 6.