Dan Calamuci
- Office: DCCC, Assembly District 19
- Election Date: March 5, 2024
- Candidate: Dan Calamuci
- 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
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? | X | |
| Should all students in 7th grade have access to algebra, if they want it? | X | |
| Should all high school students have access to AP courses? | X | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that promote making algebra available to 8th graders? | X | |
| 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. | X |
Explain why you did or did not support the recall of each member:
In the end I supported the recalls, though I would have preferred they went to the ballot in a general election. That said, the previous school board failed our students in many ways, for example –, by failing to take the time when schools were closed to make improvements to the physical plant so that schools could open safely, and remain open. Serious improvements could have been made to improve ventilation, spacing, and other interior systems that would continue to pay dividends as we enter another winter of respiratory viruses.
The problems of SFUSD go beyond the school board. Teachers still have problems getting paid. My daughter's school no longer has a school nurse. There are serious physical plant issues. Our city leadership, including the DCCC, should be a stronger voice for students, teachers, and parents to demand a better and more just public school system. Otherwise, we will continue to lose families to either private schools or to other school districts.
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Business
| Should San Francisco… | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Reduce the time to obtain all permits to open a new business to no more than 3 months? | X | |
| Reduce the cost of obtaining permits to open a new business? | x | |
| Reduce the number of activities which must obtain permits, and expand the number of by-right activities? | ||
| Increase the number of available ABC permits? | x | |
| Increase the number of available recreational marijuana permits? | x | |
| Try to attract businesses of all sizes to the City? | x |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I'm not opposed to increasing recreational marijuana permits, but I believe it's worth examination. If the market is over saturated, it could end up harming many folks the City has been trying to help when getting these businesses going.
Public Safety
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Do you think that property crime in San Francisco is too high? | x | |
| Do you support policies commonly referred to as "defund the police"? | x | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that promote a fully-funded and fully-staffed police department? | x | |
| Should police funding be from the general fund, rather than via special taxes and set-asides? | x | |
| Did you support the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin? | x |
Please explain why you did or did not support the recall of DA Chesa Boudin:
I am generally against recalls, with some exceptions. That said, I agree with many of the critiques leveled at the former DA, and recognize that many communities felt unsafe because of his actions or policies taken (or not taken). Public safety is incredibly complex, and is bigger than one person. But the current DCCC failed in taking into account what every day San Franciscans were telling them -- that actions and statements from the previous DA made them feel unsafe.
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? | X | |
| Is it too difficult to build subsidized housing in San Francisco? | X | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that make it easier, faster, and/or cheaper to build market rate housing in San Francisco? | X | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that make it easier, faster, and/or cheaper to build subsidized housing in San Francisco? | X | |
| 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) | X | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies that would abolish the existing limits on height, density, and bulk for residential buildings? | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Drugs
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Should San Francisco arrest and prosecute fentanyl dealers? | X | |
| 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)? | X | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies promoting "safe consumption" sites without altering existing laws and lax enforcement around open-air usage? | X | |
| 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) | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
Like Senator Wiener, I believe we need safe consumption sites in order to save lives. In an ideal world, open air usage would not be tolerated, and everyone would get the treatment they need. But I do not believe one should be predicated on the other.
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? | x | |
| 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)? | x |
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? | x | |
| Should the Party adopt or support policies requiring SFMTA and BART to enforce fare payment? | X | |
| Recent state funding requires Muni and BART to enforce fare payments in order to receive funding; do you agree with this requirement? | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I am opposed to prosecuting fare evaders. I think enforcement and a ticket is fine, but we don't prosecute drivers who don't feed the meter, and shouldn't prosecute not paying a transit fare.
General questions
What needs to change with the Party?
The party needs to reflect all San Francisco Democrats, not a small subset of them. The party should be willing to listen to its constituents and act accordingly.
What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, and what would you like to see change?
Housing: We need to build more housing, in all neighborhoods. At all levels of affordability.
Public transit: We need more support for public transit, including an all out effort to get people back on BART and Muni. Part of that is making people feel safe and secure, most of that is about dramatically improving reliability, headways, and ensuring that public transit is not held up by private car traffic.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.
Most residential construction, particularly smaller projects west of Van Ness, is built by a hyper exploited immigrant workforce that is subject to wage theft, fraud, and other abuses. SF should work to bring those workers out of the shadows, promote strong labor standards, and ensure those workers are protected while we build the workforce needed to build the housing San Francisco needs.
If you see any errors on this page, please let us know at contact@growsf.org.