Carrie Barnes
- Office: DCCC, Assembly District 17
- Election Date: March 5, 2024
- Candidate: Carrie Barnes
- Due Date: December 23, 2023
- Printable Version
Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the March 5, 2024 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.
We ask that you please complete this questionnaire by December 23, 2023 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.
Questions
Questions
Please mark the box that best aligns with your position. You may explain any position if you so desire.
Education
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Should all students in 8th grade have access to algebra, if they want it? | ✔️ | |
| Should all students in 7th grade have access to algebra, if they want it? | ✔️ | |
| Should all high school students have access to AP courses? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that promote making algebra available to 8th graders? | ✔️ | |
| Did you support or oppose the recall of Board of Education members Collins, López, and Moliga? If you supported or opposed a subset, please specify below. | ✔️ |
Explain why you did or did not support the recall of each member:
Business
| Should San Francisco… | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Reduce the time to obtain all permits to open a new business to no more than 3 months? | ✔️ | |
| Reduce the cost of obtaining permits to open a new business? | ✔️ | |
| Reduce the number of activities which must obtain permits, and expand the number of by-right activities? | ✔️ | |
| Increase the number of available ABC permits? | ✔️ | |
| Increase the number of available recreational marijuana permits? | ✔️ | |
| Try to attract businesses of all sizes to the City? | ✔️ |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Public Safety
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Do you think that property crime in San Francisco is too high? | ✔️ | |
| Do you support policies commonly referred to as "defund the police"? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that promote a fully-funded and fully-staffed police department? | ✔️ | |
| Should police funding be from the general fund, rather than via special taxes and set-asides? | ✔️ | |
| Did you support the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin? | ✔️ |
Please explain why you did or did not support the recall of DA Chesa Boudin:
I supported the recall of Chesa Boudin because I believed more could have been done by the former DA to address and prosecute the rise in crime during a time of crisis. In my capacity as President of Noe Valley Democratic Club, I spent a lot of time researching crime data and sources, reflecting on public sentiment, and hosting public forums and meetings with both the former DA and SFPD to understand how they were addressing crime and public safety.
Chesa's explicit goal was to center victims and support restorative justice. And, his policies reflected this outlook: in his first year in office, he charged fewer drug and homicide cases than the DA prior. Chesa also vowed to reduce the jail population; although California at the onset of the pandemic reduced its jail population, San Francisco County maintained a reduced jail population for longer than the statewide average in the face of rising criminal activity in the city.
Although the former DA was not the primary driver of shifts in crime the city experienced, he took credit for the decrease in violent crimes while avoiding taking responsibility for the increase in property crimes. But, violent crime has been shifting downward since the 1970s, in addition to a lack of proximity during Covid for those crimes to occur. More importantly, pointing to statistics alone denied how people felt and what they experienced–violent attacks on Asian Americans actually spiked during the pandemic. In addition to these hate crimes, threats against personal property such as home invasions, motor vehicle and retail theft were realities that DA Boudin seemed to expect San Franciscans to accept. Although I believe in criminal justice reform, applying this lens during a time of increased crime in San Francisco, in addition to denying the actual facts on the ground, felt irresponsible. I therefore supported the recall.
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Housing
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Is it too difficult to build market rate housing in San Francisco? | ✔️ | |
| Is it too difficult to build subsidized housing in San Francisco? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that make it easier, faster, and/or cheaper to build market rate housing in San Francisco? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that make it easier, faster, and/or cheaper to build subsidized housing in San Francisco? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that would loosen the existing limits on height, density, and bulk for residential buildings? (ie taller, denser, and fewer/reduced setbacks) | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that would abolish the existing limits on height, density, and bulk for residential buildings? | ✔️ |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Drugs
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Should San Francisco arrest and prosecute fentanyl dealers? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that formally request help from the State and Federal governments to bolster our police force (both the officers and the investigators)? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies promoting "safe consumption" sites without altering existing laws and lax enforcement around open-air usage? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies promoting "safe consumption" sites only if paired with zero-tolerance for open-air usage? (ie consuming drugs like fentanyl on the street would be illegal; and users would be taken to a recovery site until they are sober) | ✔️ |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Mental Health
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Should San Francisco place people who are experiencing mental health crises on the streets into involuntary mental health holds at psychiatric facilities? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that facilitate the construction and operation of mental health facilities, and permit those facilities to treat patients involuntarily if they are deemed to be unable to care for themselves (as determined by a panel of psychiatric professionals)? | ✔️ |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Public Transit
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Should SFMTA and BART conduct fare enforcement operations and prosecute fare evaders? | ✔️ | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies requiring SFMTA and BART to enforce fare payment? | ✔️ | |
| Recent state funding requires Muni and BART to enforce fare payments in order to receive funding; do you agree with this requirement? | ✔️ |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
General questions
What needs to change with the Party?
We need to hold the leaders of the San Francisco Democratic Party accountable to outcomes. For too long, the Party has felt more ideologically-aligned, playing partisan politics, than outcome-driven. Voters should expect performance metrics and milestones or at the very least the presence of a strong strategic plan and specific evidence of action. The Party should offer annual reviews–what worked; what didn't; and share how endorsed candidates and policies are performing. This would be more external-facing, inclusive, and would increase transparency and therefore voter trust in the Party.
What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, and what would you like to see change?
- Homelessness
We need to care for our residents and address out-of-control behavior in our city. Unfortunately, people are suffering on our streets with addiction and untreated mental health issues. It's not compassionate to let San Franciscans experiencing homelessness or struggling with addiction or mental health challenges to waste away on the streets. And, it is dehumanizing for residents and visitors to face the visible human suffering. Our current policies do both and this is a failure. We need to rapidly shift from a long-term, permanent supportive housing-first mentality to a short-term, shelter-now approach and invest in more mental health and addiction support services. I am encouraged by the recently expanded conservatorship legislation to include seriously addicted substance users and hope this will start to provide the longer-term care that is needed.
- Public Safety
We need a safe and vibrant city. We should have clean and safe streets, prevent open air drug markets, and root out retail theft. We need to invest in a fully staffed police department, give them the tools they need to be efficient, embrace community ambassadors, and activate local solutions. We shouldn't have to worry about our safety when entering a store, crossing the street, or walking into a town square. Reducing crime by imposing appropriate penalties for repeat and significant offenders is a first step.
As a second step, we need to revitalize commercial corridors and community spaces so that small businesses are supported and people can gather safely without concern. This past summer I hosted a Revitalize Downtown SF public forum to understand how community leaders propose balancing clean and safe streets with economic development. This fall I spoke at a public hearing for the Rec and Park Commission at City Hall in support of the UN Plaza Activation Project. If elected, I will support policies that encourage the revitalization and activation of public spaces.
- Housing
We need to build more housing faster. We need to streamline the permitting process and reduce barriers to production. Having a more abundant housing supply at all income levels will help address our affordability crisis and reduce the displacement of families and individuals. This is one of my platform positions and a policy area I have worked on in my capacity as campaign manager for Affordable Homes Now San Francisco (Prop D 2022). If elected to the DCCC, I will support pro-growth and pro-density policies as I believe this is how cities thrive.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.
The Democratic County Central Committee sets the direction for the local Party and its endorsements have outsized influence over which policies are passed and which candidates are elected. Unfortunately, most voters I have connected with thus far do not know about the DCCC and are uninformed about the role of its elected members. They are not aware that the decisions this governing body makes influences their daily lives. I would like the local Party to invest in public education and engagement so that voters both understand the role of the DCCC and are encouraged to participate in local politics and community activism!
If you see any errors on this page, please let us know at contact@growsf.org.