Luis A. Zamora

• Office: DCCC, Assembly District 17
• Election Date: March 5, 2024
• Candidate: Luis Zamora
• 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.

Table of Contents

Questions

• Education
• Business
• Public Safety
• Housing
• Drugs
• Mental Health
• Public Transit

General 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?	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.

Explain why you did or did not support the recall of each member:

At the time of the above recall election, I was not eligible to vote in San Francisco. I was however upset that the BOE was prioritizing renaming schools instead of working to get students safely back into class and do not support hate speech from anyone let alone a member of the BOE.

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?	X
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:

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?

Please explain why you did or did not support the recall of DA Chesa Boudin:

At the time of the above recall election, I was not eligible to vote in San Francisco, but I have supported DA Jenkins since her appointment/election.

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:

Just a point of fact, existing federal law says it would be illegal to operate safe consumption sites. Although I support them with the parameters indicated above, we would need to address the federal law in order to avoid prosecution from our current, or perhaps worse, a future Republican administration which could also deny San Francisco access to millions in government subsidies for other core issues.

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:

I am a supporter of Prop 1 which will be on the November Ballot which would implement the above (expanding conservatorship language to include those with severe substance use and a bond measure to build mental health care facilities). SEIU 1021 and CA Firefighters are also major supporters and I hope that others will as well.

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:

General questions

What needs to change with the Party?

The current DCCC is out of touch with what San Franciscans want/need. We need DCCC members who are going to uplift candidates that are willing to do the will of the people, as well as a party who will care about progress instead of "purity".

What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, and what would you like to see change?

My core policy issues involve addressing housing challenges. This includes a focus on creating a more extensive range of housing options, particularly emphasizing deeply affordable housing. I also want to invest in and improve our transit systems in both San Francisco and the broader Bay Area. This will go a long way to assist in San Francisco's recovery. I also believe a key focus needs to be on tackling homelessness, involving initiatives to increase shelter capacity citywide, support the construction of more supportive and affordable housing, and investing in mental health services for our unhoused population.

Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.

Many voters, I find, do not know who their supervisor is or what affect supervisors have on their daily lives. We really need to invest in educating San Franciscans in how their local government works, and how they can make a difference by supporting candidates and causes that most San Franciscans want anyway.