David Chiu
- Office: City Attorney
- Election Date: June 7, 2022
- Candidate: David Chiu
- Due Date: Monday, April 11, 2022
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Table of Contents
Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the June 7, 2022 primary election! GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous city via common sense solutions and effective government.
The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco and have the expertise to enact meaningful policy changes.
We ask that you please complete this questionnaire by Monday, April 11, 2022 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.
Vision
GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous San Francisco. We work to propose and pass laws that align incentives of private businesses and individuals to promote shared prosperity for every San Franciscan.
This section of our questionnaire seeks to help us gain an understanding of your alignment with our vision for San Francisco. Note that some of the questions may be outside the scope of the office you're running for.
Short-form questions
Please mark the box that best aligns with your position. You may explain any position if you so desire, but this section is designed to be a quick overview of your governing philosophy and view of the city's problems.
Small Business
| In general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open a new businesses | X | ||
| Run a business in the city | X | ||
| Hire staff at a living wage | X | ||
| Obtain various licenses & permits (liquor, entertainment, etc) | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Housing
| In general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expand your home (adding new stories, rooms, decks, etc) | X | ||
| Demolish your home and redevelop it into multifamily housing | X | ||
| Redevelop things like parking lots and single-story commercial into multifamily housing | X | ||
| Build subsidized Affordable housing | X | ||
| Build market-rate housing | X | ||
| Build homeless shelters (including navigation centers and "tiny homes") | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Public Safety
| In general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| File a police report | X | ||
| Recover a stolen item like a bike or laptop computer | X | ||
| Arrest & prosecute criminals | X | ||
| File a domestic violence or rape report | X | ||
| Charge & prosecute domestic violence or rape | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Education
| In general, is it too hard, just right, or too easy to… | Too hard | Just right | Too easy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attend a school of your choosing | X | ||
| Transport children to school | X | ||
| Hire teachers | X | ||
| Fire teachers | X | ||
| Set public education curriculum | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Budget
| Do you think San Francisco spends too little, too much, or just enough on… | Too little | Just enough | Enough, but badly | Too much |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police and public safety | X | |||
| Street cleanliness | X | |||
| Homeless services | X | |||
| Affordable housing | X | |||
| Parks | X | |||
| Roads | X | |||
| Bus, bike, train, and other public transit infrastructure | X | |||
| Schools | X | |||
| Medical facilities | X | |||
| Drug prevention and treatment | X | |||
| Arts | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, and what would you like to see change?
The top three issues facing San Francisco today--of so many--are housing, economic justice and equity. We need to continue to tackle our homelessness crisis, stabilize tenants facing evictions, and build more housing at all levels of affordability. In the midst of record inequality in our country, state and city, we need to stand up for workers and consumers. And we need to make sure there is true equity for the diversity of our city, with regard to public safety, education, health care, transportation and the collective civil rights of our residents.
As City Attorney, while I do not have the same policymaking role as I did as Supervisor or Assemblymember, I will make sure the civil laws of our city and state are enforced to protect our residents, to ensure that powerful interests holding back progress on these issues are held accountable, and to stand up for San Franciscans who deserve fair treatment in order to succeed.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.
The complexity of city government, while often well-intentioned, has made delivering services and results for our residents much more challenging. Since I last left City Hall in 2014, the budget and size of city government has expanded dramatically, but residents often do not perceive an increase in the level or quality of services in many areas. As City Attorney, I see the impact of the myriad of laws, ordinances, regulations, rules and practices enforced by many city staff, departments, policymakers, commissions, boards, advisory committees and other stakeholders, and believe we can do better.
Long-form questions
This section is optional.
We know your time is short, so please feel free to respond to the questions below which you think are most relevant to the position you're running for (but you are, of course, welcome to answer all of them). It is not necessary to answer these questions to secure our endorsement, but more context always helps us make better decisions.
As City Attorney, I am not a policymaker in the way that I was a Supervisor or Assemblymember. My primary responsibilities in my new role is to provide legal advice to policymakers and to provide legal defense for decisions made by city policymakers. For each of the following optional questions, I will provide a summary statement that will include my perspectives as a former policymaker and some thoughts about my new role as City Attorney.
Public health
As an Assemblymember, I supported the creation of safe consumption sites, and strongly believe they will save lives. As City Attorney, I am working with key stakeholders and decision makers to figure out how to move forward this policy vision.
As we deliver services for people suffering from substance abuse disorders and the opioid crisis, we need to also ensure consistent enforcement against significant drug dealing in impacted neighborhoods in the city. Under my leadership, our City Attorney's Office is working to hold the opioid industry accountable through a groundbreaking lawsuit, as well as defending our city's ability to enforce civil injunctions to keep known drug dealers out of the Tenderloin.
Do you support the creation of safe consumption sites in San Francisco?
Do you support our current laissez-faire approach to open-air drug usage? What would you change?
Education
The San Francisco City Attorney's Office does not provide legal counsel to the San Francisco Unified School District. That being said, I support the strong public consensus that the Board of Education needs to get back to basics - to focus on good governance, address the looming budget crisis, and hire a new great Superintendent. I have been a strong supporter of public schools throughout my career as an elected official.
How should the Board of Education be reformed to bring more accountability and better performance to the Board?
Should the ban on middle school algebra be reversed?
Should charter schools be allowed to operate in San Francisco?
Urbanism
For 20 years living in San Francisco, until I had to start driving to Sacramento and my son was born, I didn't own a car. To get around the City, I biked, rode BART and Muni, and walked around town. Every day, I'm reminded of how critical a well-functioning transit system is -- to our quality of life, to making San Francisco greener, and to keeping us connected as a City.
Throughout my career, I have been a leading champion for public transit and increased transportation options. As President of the Board of Supervisors, I fought to restore Muni service cuts and require audits of the system, so that our fares would get us the best transit experience possible. I also worked hard to promote cycling by advocating for a protected bike lane network, to increase enforcement of traffic laws for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, and to move us toward a car-free Market Street.
In the Legislature, I was a proud champion of funding for transit and transportation. I was the Assembly lead for Regional Measure 3 (RM3), a bold, traffic-relief plan authorized by the State Legislature and successfully passed by Bay Area voters in 2018. In the coming years, RM3 will provide $4.5 billion of funding to improve transportation and invest in transit and relieve congestion in the Bay Area. In addition to investing in Muni and Caltrain, RM3 will provide new funding to replace aging BART cars, expand and improve ferry service, accelerate planning for a second Transbay rail crossing, and many other critical public transit improvements. I also authored the current legislative approval for bus-only lanes, and was the lead champion for automated speed enforcement to reduce the epidemic of tragic speed-related collisions on our streets.
With regards to Uber and Lyft, under my tenure, the San Francisco City Attorney's Office has continued to ensure that gig companies abide by employment laws. Late last year, I announced the largest settlement in the history of San Francisco's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, as Doordash agreed to pay millions of dollars to workers for unpaid health care and sick leave; our Office has continued to engage in a significant lawsuit against Uber and Lyft for similar issues. Under my leadership, our Office has also successfully defended our city's policy to keep the Great Highway car-free during the pandemic. Our Office will defend whatever post-pandemic policies are decided on by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors with regard to JFK Drive.
Do you support raising the price of parking and driving in San Francisco?
Do you support banning cars from central downtown areas and certain retail or residential corridors?
Do you support congestion pricing?
Should San Francisco expand its protected bike lane network?
Should San Francisco prioritize buses over car traffic by creating more bus-only lanes and directing traffic enforcement to ticket drivers who ignore the restrictions?
Should Uber, Lyft, and other ride-share services be banned?
Should San Francisco allow more bike share and scooter share companies?
Should San Francisco allow bike and scooter share companies to operate with fewer restrictions on the number of vehicles they offer for rent, and in more places (including inside Golden Gate Park)?
Do you support keeping JFK Drive and the Great Highway car-free permanently?
Should Muni be free for everyone? If so, what other programs would you take money from in order to fund this change?
Taxes
As Supervisor, I led successful efforts to reform our city's business payroll tax, which had a disproportionate, job-disincenting impact on small businesses. As a state legislator, I strongly supported the repeal and reform of Prop 13; I also championed reforming tax breaks for vacation and secondary homes.
The City Attorney's Office is responsible for drafting and providing legal advice on tax legislation as proposed by policymakers, as well as litigating tax disputes to ensure the City is collecting the taxes it is owed.
Would you repeal Prop 13, if you had the authority to do so? Or, if not repeal it, how would you change it?
Are taxes and fees on small businesses too low, just right, or too high?
Should San Francisco pursue any and all avenues to impose parcel taxes that could bypass Prop 13, which keeps property taxes on multi-million dollar property artificially low?
Are sales taxes too low, just right, or too high?
Small Business & Entrepreneurship
From my days as co-founder of a small business, I have long held the perspective that San Francisco has made it very difficult for many new businesses, particularly small businesses, to be started and to succeed. As a former Small Business Commissioner, I drafted the provisions of Prop I in 2007 that required our city government to better coordinate the 15 city agencies that regulate small businesses. As Supervisor, I passed an ordinance to repeal dozens of fees that were unnecessarily nickling and diming small businesses, and successfully championed efforts - through the passage of Prop E in 2012 at the ballot box -- to reform our city's business payroll tax because it disincentivized job creation for small businesses. San Francisco should work to ensure that businesses, small and large, that play by San Francisco's rules are able to create new jobs easily and succeed -- which adds to our tax base. Our City Attorney's Office provides legal advice to policymakers who want to assist small businesses and incent job creation.
What would you change about the process of new business formation? Should San Francisco welcome all businesses, regardless of size?
Do you think the government should decide which businesses can and cannot open in San Francisco?
Should all businesses be permitted by-right? If not, which business categories do you think should not be by-right?
Housing & Homelessness
For many years as a policymaker, particularly during my six years as Chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, I have worked hard to address the intense housing crisis facing our city and state. I have long believed that the way to solve the housing crisis is to address the imbalance between housing supply and demand by building more housing at all levels of affordability and by streamlining the housing creation process. My record as a Supervisor and Assemblymember reflects these beliefs. State law now requires San Francisco to pass a housing element plan to determine how our city will create over 80,000 housing units in the coming years, and our City Attorney's Office will continue to provide legal counsel to our policymakers with regards to our ongoing obligations to build housing.
Do you believe that San Francisco has a shortage of homes?
Do you believe that housing prices are set by supply and demand constraints? Should San Francisco upzone? If so, where and how?
Should homeless shelters be exempt from CEQA, Discretionary Review, and Conditional Use permits?
Should subsidized Affordable housing be exempt from CEQA, Discretionary Review, and Conditional Use permits?
Should market rate housing be exempt from CEQA, Discretionary Review, and Conditional Use permits?
Policy
Now that we know where you align and differ from our vision for San Francisco, we'd like to get some details about how you intend to use your elected office to achieve your goals.
As mentioned before, the role of the San Francisco City Attorney is not to be a policymaker akin to my previous positions as Supervisor or Assemblymember, so our office does not have policy goals per se, nor do we do our work through political organizing to build political capital. The mission of the City Attorney's Office is to provide the highest quality legal services to the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, other elected officials, as well as the 100 or so departments, boards, commissions and offices that comprise the City and County of San Francisco's government. We provide advice and counsel to our clients, defend the City against upwards of 4,000 claims and lawsuits each year, and bring affirmative lawsuits on behalf of San Franciscans to stand up for the rights of our residents.
While our office does not have policy goals, I am happy to articulate my priorities as City Attorney. As City Attorney, defending the rights of San Franciscans and the values of our city will always be my charge. During this era of inequality, my office will look for opportunities to stand up for workers and consumers; in the wake of Black Lives Matter, Me Too, and anti-Asian hate, we will zealously protect our collective civil rights; we will root out corruption and hold city government to the highest ethical standards; and we will vigorously address the challenges of the day, from our housing and homelessness crises to the existential climate crisis.
Why are you running for City Attorney?
What is your #1 policy goal?
How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal? Will the power of the office of City Attorney be enough to achieve this goal? What are your #2 and #3 policy goals?
Will the power of the office of City Attorney be enough to achieve these goals? What is an existing policy you would like to reform?
What is an "out there" change that you would make to SF / local government / policy, if you could? (For example: adding at-large supervisors, changing how elections work, creating a Bay Area regional government, etc.)
Personal
Tell us a bit about yourself!
How long have you lived in San Francisco? What brought you here and what keeps you here?
As the son of Chinese immigrants, I never imagined I would become a lawyer or an elected official, because my immigrant family didn't know lawyers or elected officials. Growing up in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s, during the days of the busing desegregation fights, we saw a lot of racism, and experienced racism. Those experiences drew me to study the civil rights movement, which inspired me in the fight for justice and to attend law school. 27 years ago, I first came to San Francisco to work with a civil rights organization, and fell in love with our city for the reasons described below.
Since then, my entire career has been devoted to the fight for justice, from my days as Democratic Counsel to the U.S. Senate Constitution Subcommittee, a law clerk to a liberal Ninth Circuit judge, a criminal prosecutor with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, a civil rights attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights - as well as during my six years as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and seven years in the California State Assembly.
What do you love most about San Francisco?
There are so many things I love about San Francisco - our diversity, our shared progressive values, our compassion, our willingness to lead, our innovation, and our neighborhoods.
What do you dislike the most about San Francisco?
In the State Legislature, while my 119 colleagues and I represented districts that were very different from each other, there was usually a culture of civility, and of working in good faith to bridge significant differences. Unfortunately, at too many moments, our city's politics have become toxic. Despite the fact that close to 900,000 San Franciscans live in 7x7 square miles, policymakers, community leaders, activists and neighbors are often unable to engage constructively, respectfully and positively, to move through differences to achieve consensus and deliver results. This was true when I first stepped foot into City Hall years ago, and is sadly true today.
Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)
Prior to running for public office, I served as judge-arbitrator with the Polk Street Community Court, president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, board chair for the Youth Leadership Institute, the Chinatown Community Development Center, and Lower Polk Neighbors, board member of Partners Ending Domestic Abuse, and San Francisco Small Business Commissioner.
Thank you
Thank you for giving us your time and answering our questionnaire. We look forward to reading your answers and considering your candidacy!
If you see any errors on this page, please let us know at contact@growsf.org.