City College of San Francisco is in a unique situation. The elected board of trustees is currently not meeting, having been suspended when the California Community Colleges Board of Governors appointed the Special Trustee. Voters will choose four people to sit on the college board, even though right now there are no meetings and the trustees can take no action.
Two years ago, we did not recommend any of the incumbents for re-election. We continue to hold that position. Three seats are up for four-year terms; two candidates are incumbents.
In an odd twist, there is also a two-year seat on the ballot, as former Trustee Chris Jackson resigned. In that race, we endorse William Walker, a gay man who previously was the student trustee on the board.
Walker is a graduate of City College and has spent several years in student organizing. He has a long history of involvement with CCSF's student government.
In his Bay Area Reporter questionnaire, Walker said that he believes that the college's accreditation needs to be retained. He also indicated that CCSF had suffered a loss of 15,000 students, which could result in a loss of nearly $10 million in apportionment revenue. That, of course, will affect how many employees the college can afford to keep.
In addition to the accreditation problem facing City College, which is expected to be resolved by a trial, Walker pointed out that enrollment usually declines when the economy improves, as people often trade school for jobs. Walker said that CCSF needs to continue to negotiate labor contracts and find ways to ensure it pays a living wage while determining a staffing plan should it lose that nearly $10 million in funding.
If City College succeeds in reversing the accreditation dispute, Walker has several excellent ideas for increasing enrollment, including forging a stronger connection to employers in the region to develop career and technical curriculum that will place students in entry-level positions in their firms after completing 10 to 20 units.
Walker completed 70 units at CCSF; in short, he is extremely aware of the college's current situation and has solutions to make needed changes. He is the only African American man running for the entire board, but more than identity politics, he's a former student who can bring that knowledge to bear. He pointed out that he could provide a unique perspective, as most of the board trustees' experiences are not typical of a City College student.
There is another gay City College student in the race (for one of the four-year terms), and that's former Army Lieutenant Dan Choi. While he would bring passion to the board and is running on a platform of helping veterans get back on their feet, we believe that Choi, who is brand new to San Francisco, doesn't have the experience that the school needs in addressing its myriad issues.
James Fang for BART board
In the race for the District 8 BART board seat, James Fang, the only Republican elected official in the city, showed he's adept at handling tough issues, including the strikes that crippled the transit system last year. His ability to work with labor unions only underscores how he was able to forge alliances to reach consensus. We recommend his re-election.
Fang has served on the BART board since 1990, and is being challenged by Democrat Nick Josefowitz this time. But Fang's support from labor and some rookie missteps by the Josefowitz campaign highlighted Fang's long-standing ties to major Democrats, like Senator Dianne Feinstein, Mayor Ed Lee, and Public Defender Jeff Adachi.
In his questionnaire, Fang told us he has long championed the LGBT community. One of the first things he did when joining the BART board was to make sure the agency had a district that would be represented by the LGBT community, and a gay man, Tom Radulovich, has held the District 9 seat for many years.
Fang is also one of the original authors of domestic partnership policies at BART, a strong advocate of BART's participation in local Pride festivals, and works to increase outreach to the community.
BART is at a high point now: ridership is way up; new train cars are due in a couple years; and its Oakland Airport connector will open this fall. Stations in San Francisco and Oakland are being renovated and BART expects to connect with Levi's Stadium next year, Fang said. Recent initiatives such as BART's revamped bicycle policy have also proved popular with riders.
Areas of improvement include ramping up service for the San Francisco Pride parade. Fang said that this year he talked to riders and knows there were many complaints. Fang said the error this year was the result of a miscalculation by operations control, and that next year supplemental trains should be available in the morning as well as late afternoon.
But one of BART's consistent problems is its contentious labor relations. Last year there were two work stoppages and two BART workers were struck by a train and killed during the second strike. Fang told us that last year's contract negotiations were acrimonious because of a new management strategy that deliberately removed the BART directors from participating in the negotiations.
"That was a fatal error," he said.
Since then, a new BART board president has been elected, and Fang was appointed to lead a newly formed Labor Negotiations Review Committee. Fang said he already brought labor, management, and board members together to begin to create a new dialogue to prevent another BART strike when the current contract expires.
Fang also noted that labor-management committees are now being instituted to objectively look at outdated work rules that are burdensome and inefficient.
Those are steps in the right direction.
As more people use BART to get around the Bay Area, an experienced board is needed to maintain and improve this vital transportation link. Fang has shown that he has that experience.