Sara Barz
- Office: DCCC, Assembly District 19
Election Date: March 5, 2024
Candidate: Sara Barz
Due Date: December 23, 2023
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
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:
I supported the BoE recall of Collins, López, and Moliga.
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? | ||
| Increase the number of available recreational marijuana permits? | ||
| Try to attract businesses of all sizes to the City? | X |
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I am supportive of nightlife, alcohol vending (especially in Shared Spaces), and marijuana dispensaries. I am generally in favor of reducing permitting constraints. However I do not know the current cap on ABC or marijuana permits. I am not aware of the pros and cons of increasing the number, and I would like to be better informed before taking a position.
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"? | ||
| 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:
If you want to explain any positions above, please feel free:
I do not support the philosophy of Defunding the Police or see that perspective as a pragmatic way to manage public safety in San Francisco. I support Joel Engardio and Matt Dorsey's leadership on public safety and calls to fully resource our police force, however I would like to do so with focus on outcomes.
I believe in evidence-based outcomes, and even when our police force was operating with more staff, case clearance rates were very low, home break-ins were rarely investigated, and traffic enforcement was rare. The City has had to pay millions to settle discrimination and harassment lawsuits with former members of the SFPD. To get the public safety outcomes that we want, systematic reforms must be on the table. This is my view on public education, and I believe it is consistent to apply to public safety.
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:
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:
For the record I support all of the Transit Fare Enforcement positions above. Muni and BART charge fares for most adult riders, and they should make a good faith effort to enforce those fares. Based on my personal expertise in the transit industry, I believe there are higher priority issues that I would like to see both Muni and BART (as well as the other 25 transit agencies of the Bay Area) embrace to make our local and regional transit system function for San Franciscans. I would be happy to elaborate on those in an interview.
General Questions
What needs to change with the Party?
The ideology of 22 of 24 of the elected members of the DCCC is gravely inconsistent with the viewpoints of the vast majority of voters in SF, as shown by recent elections. The Party needs to be better in tune with San Francisco Democrats – more focused on making our City work in a pragmatic and cooperative way, rather than performative politics and ideological tribalism.
What are the top three issues facing San Francisco, and what would you like to see change?
- Public safety and spaces: All San Franciscans deserve access to safe, vibrant public spaces, and the ability to live and move freely in our city without fear of crime.
- Excellent public schools: We must ensure that public education is about raising student excellence across the school districts instead of it being a stomping ground for extreme ideologies over student performance.
- Housing with sustainable transportation: We're on our way to building a lot of new housing in San Francisco (yay!), but we can't add two new cars for all 82,000 homes we will build over the next eight years. For our climate and our sanity, the city must invest in high-quality public transportation and safe streets.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.
The makeup of the DCCC!
If you see any errors on this page, please let us know at contact@growsf.org.