District 8 needs a leader who will fight for the community.

Gary’s Priorities for District 8

Housing

My experience taught me the importance of a full ladder out of homelessness. I had opportunities to go from the streets to shelters, to single room occupancy hotels (SROs). And I went from treatment to transitional housing, to permanent supportive housing and subsidized rent, to a market-rate two bedroom apartment. That ladder simply doesn’t exist today.

San Francisco must say yes to housing at every level so that we can build a city that’s affordable for everyone – the working class, young families, aging adults and seniors, our long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS, people with disabilities, and kids who grew up here and want to stay. 

We also must ensure that tenants can stay in their homes, free from the threat of unlawful evictions, rent increases and other tactics of predatory landlords. I unequivocally support rent control and preventing the demolition of rent-controlled housing. As a renter for the past 13 years, I will always stand up for renters, who are often the most economically vulnerable people in our communities.

From affordable housing and middle income housing, to permanent supportive housing and sober living facilities, to new market rate housing in neighborhoods that have historically refused to build their fair share – if we want a city that’s truly livable and equitable, we need it all. 

I’m supportive of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Family Zoning plan to expand family-friendly housing options across the city. I’ll fight to legalize more density along our major transit corridors, creating vibrant neighborhoods where people can afford to live, work, and get around without a car. 

I also know that housing and labor go hand in hand: I’ll push for projects that move quickly through approvals while ensuring good union jobs and prevailing wages, so people can afford both to work and live in San Francisco. 

My priorities: 

  • Cut red tape and streamline approvals to get homes of all types – particularly dense, multi-family housing and affordable housing – built faster 

  • Strengthen and expand tenant protections, including protecting legal aid funding for tenants

  • Support funding measures and mechanisms to build more affordable housing

  • Support reforms to end unnecessary and wasteful lawsuits against new housing, including CEQA and historic preservation reform to prevent both from being misused as tactics to block new housing 

  • Support Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning plan to build badly-needed new housing and ensure San Francisco meets its state-mandated housing goals

  • Ensure new housing construction creates good jobs with prevailing wages and benefits for workers

  • Champion mixed-income and affordable housing as a cornerstone of San Francisco’s growth, including in District 8

A Thriving Economy

San Francisco must build an economy that works for everyone. While we’ve made significant progress since the height of the pandemic, San Francisco has yet to fully bounce back from the deep economic impacts it had on our city. A thriving San Francisco starts with a healthy economy where we reward creativity and entrepreneurship while having the backs of working people trying to make ends meet. 

Small business owners are struggling to keep their doors open because of unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy. I hear constantly from community members worried about the high rates of storefront vacancies and rising rents in our neighborhoods. As Supervisor, I will work to cut the red tape that our small businesses face when trying to open and run their shop. These businesses are the cornerstones of our community, and if we don’t act quickly, we’ll lose even more. 

I understand deeply––from many years of personal experience trying to make ends meet––just how difficult it is to get by in San Francisco. Working and middle class people, including many long time San Francisco residents who grew up here, are among the most impacted by our economic challenges. In my daily conversations, I hear from so many workers who feel it’s become impossible to make a decent wage that allows them to support their families. 

Our essential workforce includes many immigrants, who are being targeted by ICE for deportation. Our current leadership is not doing nearly enough to defend them, and I will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with workers by strengthening union protections and protecting immigrant workers from kidnapping and deportation. 

I’ll also fight for fair wages, healthcare, and jobs with dignity. That’s why I’m proud to have endorsements from unions like the National Union of Healthcare Workers, UA Local 38 Plumbers, Steamfitters & HVAC/R, the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 8, and to have been a member of IFPTE Local 21. 

My priorities:

  • Ensure our small businesses can thrive and grow in San Francisco through streamlining the city’s permitting process, continuing the “first year free” program for new businesses, growing our neighborhood anchoring business and legacy business programs

  • Support funding that improves our transit reliability and efficiency, extending service hours so our nightlife and workers can take transit home

  • Expand early childhood education and investing in strong public schools so working families can stay in San Francisco and get world-class educations

  • Strengthen union protections across the healthcare, hospitality and public sectors, fighting for staffing and safety standards, advancing living wages and fair contracts, protecting immigrant workers from ICE raids

  • Expand housing options, healthcare access, and community services downtown and beyond, while protecting and growing good union jobs

Public Safety

Too many members of our community feel unsafe in San Francisco. That’s unacceptable, and we must do better. 

From mental health crisis response to community-based violence prevention to supporting and providing resources to our first responders, I believe improving public safety is about making sure everyone feels secure in the place they call home. There’s not just one approach to addressing our public safety crisis; we must implement a holistic and thorough set of policies that get at the roots of the crime, substance use, and mental health issues that we see in our neighborhoods.

As Supervisor, I’ll continue my work to expand mental health crisis teams so people get the care they need. I’ll support community programs that prevent violence before it happens and keep our neighborhoods and streets clean and safe. And I’ll make sure first responders, from police officers to firefighters to 311 teams, have the resources and capacity to respond quickly and effectively, so safety isn’t a privilege for the few, but a guarantee for everyone. 

I also see street and traffic safety as a key component of public safety. I support building and maintaining District 8’s slow streets network, expanding protected bike lanes, and pushing for traffic-calming improvements like bulbouts, raised crosswalks, and lower speed limits. I believe in Vision Zero: no one should risk their life just getting across town.

My priorities: 

  • Expand and fund mental health crisis response teams, and ensure that our first responders, like police officers and firefighters, have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively 

  • Support funding for substance use treatment and recovery that works, so every resident can thrive in San Francisco 

  • Support community-based violence prevention programs

  • Improve and maintain District 8’s slow streets network and protected bicycle lanes

  • Expand traffic calming improvements including bulbouts, raised crosswalks, and reduced speed limits

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