At least you’ve proven one thing: You are certainly not a serious journalist. You’re not really a serious anything.

As to the Federal issues, as a teacher I know you can opt out of the No Child Left Behind requirements if you don’t take federal money. Those requirements are what mandates letting military recruiters into the schools, also. I don’t remember which state right now, but I think one small state did choose to opt out of federal education money to get rid of NCLB.

Peace,
marcos

2) Crime: The homicide rate in San Francisco is out of control, and the Board’s plan for neighborhood policing is vital towards staving off this deplorable trend.

What about PUNISHMENT? It seems people in certain neighborhoods pretty much kill other with impunity. Few cases are even prosecuted. How are foot patrols going to get people to accept some responsibility for their own communities? Why are people caught with illegal guns never punished?

3) … beautifcation and beatification programs? …

What does this mean? “Beatify” means “to make blissfully happy”. The people spoke when they overwhelmingly supported Care Not Cash. Why does the right of a homeless person to follow me down the street and harass me (luckily I’m a big guy, but female friends have felt quite threatened when it happened to them) supercede my right (and my friends’ rights) to walk down the street in peace? Why is nothing done when the same guy shits on my porch time after time?

4) Public Transportation: Muni needs to be free for city residents, and I would like to see it free for visitors as well.

When BART became free for Spare the Air days, crime on BART skyrocketed to the point where they now only offer free morning commutes on Spare the Air days. How would you prevent this?

… perhaps attaching fees to all vehicles registered within San Francisco.

These fees are set at the State level. As a relative newcomer, where would you find the political capital to do this. Also don’t forget, many of the City residents who own cars live in the far outlying neighborhoods. For example, where I live, Crocker Amazon (most politicians probably don’t even know or care where this *IS*), it takes 60-90 minutes to get across town by Muni and about 20-30 by car. As a working guy, I don’t want to spend two extra hours a day away from my family, and to be honest I don’t want my kids riding on a lot of the bus lines in the City because they are not safe.

5) Federal Funding: I will work to establish a ten-year plan to sever all federal funding from the city budget.

Even if you don’t take Federal money, the City still has to follow Federal law (not saying I agree with all Federal law, the opposite is probably true, but just stating it as a legal fact).

6) Gay Marriage: It is a shame that San Francisco is no longer offering marriage license’s to gay and lesbian couples. I propose that San Francisco look into offering a county marriage license to supplement the state documents.

Good idea, if this would actually carry some weight and not just be symbolic.

7) Medicinal Marijuana: The people of San Francisco have come out in support of medicinal marijuana in previous elections and it is of critical importance that The City continue to respect the voters’ wishes.

I voted for medical marijuana expecting people to help each other, and to grow and/or give it away free or low cost. Unfortunately, big drug dealers have moved in and pretty much taken over most of the medical marijuana clubs. Seriously, why do I have to get a permit from the city for hundreds of dollars just to put a water heater in my house when someone can just open a pot club with no regulation whatsoever? Also, the amount of crime around the clubs is a concern.

Biking: I will partner with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to see that bike lanes are constructed on all major traffic thoroughfares.

The goal of a citywide biking network is good, but it seems a lot of the bike paths were picked just to piss off motorists rather than based on routes actually travelled by cyclists. For example, the Alemany Boulevard bike path. Most bikers ride on Cayuga, one block over, because traffic is much calmer and it’s a lot safer. Maybe 3-4 people a DAY use the Alemany path. Is this really the best use of City money, especially when it will have to go so much further if you succeed in eliminating Federal monies?

9) Halloween: The annual Castro celebration has grown too large to safely accommodate the partygoers who gather each year.

This is a cop out by a politician trying to be politically correct. Everyone knows who the troublemakers at the Halloween party were. The people shooting each other were kids from bad neighborhoods in the City. Why not just require that people have to be over 21 to get into the Castro party?

10) Independence: As an avid supporter of a free and independent San Francisco, I will introduce a city ballot measure to provide an opportunity for the people of San Francisco to attain city sovereignty…

This would just be another symbolic measure that wastes time and money that should be spent on City problems.

Other things I’d like to see you address:

Graffiti–what is your plan to stop the spread of graffiti (I don’t mean artistic graffiti, I mean the scratches and scrawls on people’s homes that cost us a lot of money to fix). Why are homeowners in marginal neighborhoods fined when someone tags our homes, but nothing happens to those DOING the tagging? My neighborhood had no graffiti when I moved in and now is covered with it, and the people doing it just laugh at us when we tell them to stop (or threaten us).

Sorry for the long response, but those are the kinds of issues that family people in S.F. care about (even if we’re in the minority now).

I am serious about my candidacy and am convinced that the platform I’ve outlined is a start towards creating a solid plan for the future of San Francisco. The City needs a visible candidate for mayor that represents the progressives, and thus far no readily established candidates have surfaced; so I figured why not me?

If nothing else, my campaign has already helped educate me about the city and the people that call it home, and I anticipate this will continue to be true.

Josh Wolf, the recipient of the largest Legal Defense Fund grant in history, has announced he is……