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Ed Jew, democracy and rent control

What does it mean to declare one’s primary residence? Supervisor Ed Jew has maintained official residency at his family home in the Sunset, but he apparently sleeps more at his wife’s home or his Chinatown flower shop.

Clearly, our electoral process requires only one residence at a time, but what if we required our state or federal representatives to sleep most of their days in the place of their official residence?

If our city officials are to be held to a higher standard of residency, then the same should apply to city voters who also cheat the system. Thousands of city residents also own homes elsewhere but keep their rent-controlled apartments as their “official residence” for occasional evenings in town, and to protect their privileged 1970s rental rates through the ballot box.

Let’s be fair and revisit rent control for property owners and high-level incomes.

Judy West

The City

If Ed Jew took bribes he should suffer the consequences, but being punished for not living in “his” district? Give us a break! First of all, the people of the district voted for him. But even more important is the fact that whether he lives in the district or not may not change a single decision he’d make. If he’s good, he’s good, but if he’s bad, he’s bad — no matter where he lives.

Superficial democratic rules make for a bad democracy. We should change our geography-based democracy into a democracy that is based on us, real people.

Fredrick Schermer

The City

Don’t slash mayor’s budget

Supervisor Chris Daly’s proposal to cut essential law enforcement needs out of San Francisco’s budget is misguided and dangerous.

The City simply must fund the police academy class of 50 cadets. Scores of the most experienced patrol officers will soon retire, straining our city’s understaffed police department and accelerating costly overtime expenditures. The SFPD is already hard-pressed to field the beat officers who will implement community policing plans and staff the foot patrols mandated by the Board of Supervisors.

Funding 12 park rangers will help prevent vandalism, graffiti and litter in the parks, and the park ranger force can be deployed at less cost than police staff. This summer, The City will need more police to patrol the streets and cope with the expected seasonal increase in violent crimes. San Franciscans should tune out this new Daly show and support their rangers and cops.

Doug Chan

Former police commissioner

The City

The motion by Supervisor Daly is a parliamentary maneuver out of the playbooks of Reagan and Rove, where the budget process hijacks public discourse, participation and the democratic process. It represents exactly what people hate about politics and further exacerbates cynicism and voter apathy, which results in a lack of qualified candidates willing to run because of the level one has to stoop to in order to participate.

In addition, it is exactly the kind of tactic I would hope that the so-called progressive supervisors would oppose because it exemplifies the opposite of transparency in government. It’s time to walk their ideological talk and allow the mayor’s budget, composed with input from city departments and commissioners representing far more voters than Daly and Ammiano, to be heard and debated in an open, well-noticed process.

If the motion were to pass, the voters would be denied the opportunity to debate important issues including public safety, mental health, rebuilding public housing, and county employee retirement planning.

Catherine Dodd

The City

Blue Angels perspectives

I would bet Ken Garcia that an equal number of San Franciscans would rather see the noisy, dangerous Blue Angels go somewhere else as those who find them “entertaining” (“Daly’s stance on Blue Angels, budget makes for good show,” June 12).

Traditionally, an air show is held at a military base or a little-used airport, where those who like that sort of thing can attend, rather than force it on those of us who are annoyed by it. In Paris, it is forbidden to fly any aircraft over their beautiful city. Don’t we deserve the same protection?

Patrick McInroy

The City

Recent letters by David Hayman and William Buehlman contained a common theme that confirmed a point I have made: The opposition to the Blue Angels air show is grounded not in safety concerns but in an ideological hatred of their own country along with the men and women in uniform who defend it.

At least in that regard, their letters did serve a useful purpose.

E.F. Sullivan

The City

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