Matt Dorsey
- Office: Supervisor, District 6
- Election Date: November 8, 2022
- Candidate: Matt Dorsey
- Due Date: Tuesday, July 12
- Printable Version
Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the November 2022 General 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 Tuesday, July 12 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.
Topical questions
These issues have been in the news recently. Please tell us your opinion and how you might address them as Supervisor:
A Place For All legislation
Supervisor Mandelman's "A Place For All" legislation requires that the city make a plan to end unsheltered homelessness.
- If you are a sitting Supervisor, did you vote for it? Why or why not?
I not only voted for "A Place for All," I'm proudly co-sponsoring it — and for several reasons.
First, it's a safety issue. In fact, the change I recommended to Supervisor Mandelman after he previewed his proposal to me was to rebrand it as "A Safe Place for All." During my two-plus years on the San Francisco Police Department's command staff, some of the most brutally violent crimes I saw were those targeting unhoused San Franciscans— including one individual who was set on fire in his sleeping bag. I have been informed that surveys of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness overwhelmingly support and would accept secure, managed sheltering sites.
Second, it's a legal compliance issue. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit held in Martin v. Boise that municipalities cannot generally enforce anti-camping ordinances if they lack sufficient shelter facilities for their homeless population. Sufficient shelter capacity would enable San Francisco to enforce against street encampments and better, more compassionate care for individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
Third, it's an equity issue. I represent a district that faces the highest relative risk of liquefaction were San Francisco to suffer a serious seismic event. If District 6 residents were displaced from their homes because residential high-rises were red-tagged after an earthquake, I would spare no effort to ensure that our City stepped up to ensure that no one would be left to sleep on our sidewalks. How, then, in good conscience could I explain to our unhoused neighbors that I'd do less for them. That's why I strongly support A Place for All.
JFK Promenade
Do you support making JFK Drive accessible only to people walking, biking, using personal mobility devices like wheelchairs, and other non-automotive uses?
I've joined with Supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Myrna Melgar and Hillary Ronen in sponsoring an initiative that would revise the Golden Gate Park Access and Safety Program, limiting private vehicles' access especially on JFK Drive.
I'm a San Franciscan who chooses not to own a car. I'm also a nine-time marathon finisher who still runs recreationally, and my preferred means of transportation around San Francisco is bikeshare. Yet while I approach these issues with the bias of someone who prefers not to drive through parks, I also appreciate the need for a democratic process that considers the impacts on seniors and those with disabilities or other circumstances that may require private vehicles. While I acknowledge not everyone will be happy with the position I've taken on a car-free JFK, I'm satisfied that the public process has been thorough.
Find the ballot measure here.
Great Highway
The Great Highway is currently open to cars on weekdays and open to people walking, biking, using personal mobility devices like wheelchairs, and other non-automotive uses on weekends. Do you support this compromise position?
I'm in favor of closing streets where practicable to allow more recreational uses and multimodal access — like JFK Drive — which was analyzed by MTA and Rec Park, and had extensive community input before the decision to permanently close it to cars.
I would support a similar process to determine the long-term solution for the Great Highway, although my general inclination would be to look favorably on expanding recreational uses.
Affordable Homes Now ballot initiative
GrowSF is running a charter amendment ballot initiative alongside the Housing Action Coalition, YIMBY Action, SPUR, Habitat for Humanity, Greenbelt Alliance, and the NorCal Carpenters Union. This ballot measure will make it faster and cheaper to build housing. Do you support it?
I am a strong supporter of the Affordable Homes Now charter amendment that will appear on this November's ballot, and I was proudly the first member of the Board of Supervisors to endorse it. The proposal will make it faster and easier to build affordable and new homes in San Francisco for low- and middle-income San Franciscans, public school teachers, and those who work in public schools or at community colleges. This will support a more sustainable transit-first vision for the City that will make it easier for our educators to both live and work in the City — avoiding hours-long commutes from far-off locales as congestion and gas prices worsen.
One of the issues that inspired me to be Supervisor was how the Board of Supervisors handled the 469 Stevenson vote. If this came before me today, I would have voted in favor of the project so San Francisco could have 495 more housing units in the pipeline, with around 24% of those affordable. More importantly, the housing project is near transit, had support from local community residents and leaders, and would create hundreds of union jobs.
Board of Education recall
In February San Franciscans recalled three members of the Board of Education. Did you support these recalls? Why or why not?
I did support the Board of Educaton recall because I felt strongly that the timing and content of needless political theatrics employed by the School Board members who were ousted was counterproductive to what the San Francisco Unified School District needed to accomplish during a once-in-a-century pandemic that was taking a serious toll on the mental health and academic achievement of students.
Parents and voters were outraged, and they deserved to be. As Supervisor Rafael Mandelman correctly observed, it was a "political malpractice and educational malpractice," which in my judgment merited recall due to its risk of delegitimizing San Francisco public schools.
District Attorney Chesa Boudin recall
In June San Franciscans recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Did you support this recall? Why or why not?
I published a May 31, 2022 op-ed in SFGATE explaining my decision to support the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, which for me was based on a combination of public statements that consistently minimized the deadly public health and safety crisis resulting from illicit fentanyl dealing in San Francisco, and an approach by his office that I viewed as woefully inadequate. Indeed, an analysis of San Francisco Superior Court case records by The San Francisco Standard in May found that DA Boudin did not secure a single conviction for possession with the intent to sell fentanyl among the cases he prosecuted in 2021.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, drug overdose deaths in San Francisco have surpassed COVID-19 deaths nearly twice over— and fentanyl is the primary cause of death according to San Francisco's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, month and after month. Our drug overdose crisis is a public health calamity unmatched in our City since the height of the AIDS epidemic, and as someone who publicly identifies as a recovering addict, I felt very strongly that the recall of District Attorney Boudin was warranted.
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 business | 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 buildings 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 | ||
| Evaluate performance of schools | 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?
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Housing. Like most other cities in California, San Francisco has failed to produce sufficient housing at all income levels and in a variety of neighborhoods, and the decades-long persistence of this failure has created a multifaceted crisis of affordability, environmental impacts, racial equity, and more. That's why I believe the current process to finalize and gain state approval for San Francisco's Housing Element is an incredibly important moment for our City to begin righting the wrongs of past inaction. It represents the first time in our civic history (which includes the more than five decades since the Federal Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968) that we as a City are committing to analyze the racial disparities in our city planning and housing outcomes, and to adopt interventions to repair and reverse them. It will also be the first Housing Element that comes with real "teeth" for San Francisco to meet its RHNA requirement of building 82,000 units of housing by 2031. I'm committed to leading on that as a District 6 Supervisor.
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Drug overdoses, drug treatment, and drug sales. It was the convergence of San Francisco's crisis in drug overdose deaths and my own personal history in recovery from substance use disorder that moved me to personally ask Mayor London Breed to appoint me to the Board of Supervisors. And while this is obviously a deeply personal priority for me, I believe it is also a public priority that our City must do a better job of addressing in a multitude of ways. To build public support for the progress San Francisco needs to make, I have proposed "Right to Recovery" drug enforcement zones to better protect those seeking recovery. I am coordinating with leading academic researchers and national leaders in successful interventions against open-air drug scenes and will have more to announce in the weeks and months ahead.
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Transportation. I represent a district that hosts the core of transportation for the whole city, encompassing Muni, BART, Caltrain,and the regional partner agencies making use of the Transbay Terminal. The downtown extension, or DTX, extending Caltrain and, eventually, high-speed rail to the Transbay Terminal is a major priority for me as Supervisor, fulfilling the promise of DTX and creating 15,000 jobs. Moreover, this is the kind of transportation infrastructure that represents what cities pursuing an authentically progressive 21st century urbanist and environmental agenda need to accomplish.
Tell us one thing you think needs to change in SF that the average voter wouldn't know about.
In my 14 years in the San Francisco City Attorney's Office from 2002 to 2014, I worked on numerous high-profile litigation matters — usually but not exclusively against PG&E — to expand the scope of San Francisco's municipal energy generation and move CleanPowerSF forward. Thanks to the growth and advancement of CleanPowerSF, San Francisco is on track to provide 100% renewable electricity to all 360K+ CleanPowerSF residential and commercial customers. The real work now lies in electrifying our current infrastructure and eliminating natural gas from our homes and buildings.
Thanks to Supervisor Mandleman (who has endorsed my campaign) leading on legislation that passed to eliminate natural gas in new construction, our City agencies, labor, and large building owners and operators must aggressively support existing building decarbonization measures. It's no easy feat, so I plan to work in tandem with officials at the local, state, and federal levels to de-couple our city's dependence on fossil fuels by working to incentivize electrification upgrades on the single family, multi-family, and large commercial building sectors.
San Francisco is leading the nation on the environment not because we set lofty goals, but because we have a clear roadmap to achieve the bold goals we set. I promise to make sure the City and our local CBOs have the support, resources, and funding they need to implement the 160+ strategies laid out in the CAP. I'll convene regularly with Climate Emergency Coalition stakeholders and partners to make sure we're on track to meeting our 2040 carbon neutral goals every precious year we have.
And finally, when it comes to fulfilling the promise our City's ambitious Climate Action Plan to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, I think it's worth noting the personal, individual choices we make — like the one I made to not own a car, and rely on Muni, bike share and walking as my primary means of transportation.
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.
Public health
Do you support the creation of safe consumption sites in San Francisco?
I support the creation of safe consumption sites in San Francisco, and I believe the increased prevalence of deadly synthetic opioids like fentanyl makes the case for this life-saving harm-reduction approach. However, I also believe that safe consumption facilities can only succeed with public support, which can only be won with a fundamental commitment that such facilities will not be magnets for open-air drug scenes, brazen drug dealing and associated public nuisances.
That's why I initiated the process of developing legislation to create "Right to Recovery" zones that will prioritize enforcement near supervised consumption facilities, sober living environments, drug- or alcohol-rehab sites, and similar facilities. The rationale is two-fold: first, to better protect those making the brave and difficult decision to seek help with their substance or alcohol use disorder; and second, to earn the support of neighbors whose streets and neighborhoods will host such facilities.
Do you support our current laissez-faire approach to open-air drug usage? What would you change?
I do not support San Francisco's current approach to open-air drug usage, brazen drug dealing, and the suffering of addicts on our streets. I believe those openly dealing heinous drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine should be prosecuted. These are drugs of despair and should be treated as such with an effective criminal justice approach. It's time we stop allowing drug dealers to contribute to the misery of addicts and deaths on our streets.
Education
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?
Yes, the ban on middle school algebra should be reversed. We should be encouraging our children to take on challenges and help them succeed in order to have a top-tier education system in San Francisco. We should give our children every opportunity to excel and thrive in academic spaces.
Should charter schools be allowed to operate in San Francisco?
Urbanism
Do you support raising the price of parking and driving in San Francisco?
I do support raising the price of parking and driving in San Francisco because it's essential that we as a city begin to adopt a public transit-first approach.
Do you support banning cars from central downtown areas and certain retail or residential corridors?
I do support banning cars from central downtown areas and certain retail and residential corridors. I believe in order to revitalize downtown San Francisco and bring back office workers we must revive the spaces in which they will go to after work. This means we need more people and fewer cars. We have to ban cars in order to make more space for live music, activities, and special events.
Do you support congestion pricing?
Should San Francisco expand its protected bike lane network?
Yes, San Francisco should make it a priority to expand its protected bike lane network to ultimately have a seamless transition from bike lane to bike lane without entering unprotected and car-crowded streets. This will simultaneously protect bicyclists from harm's way while lessening our dependence on cars.
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?
San Francisco should prioritize buses over car traffic and redirect traffic enforcement to ticket drivers with violations in order to incentivize more public transit use.
Should Uber, Lyft, and other ride-share services be banned?
Should San Francisco allow more bike share and scooter share companies?
San Francisco should allow more bike share and scooter share companies as long as these companies commit more effort and resources into taking care of the scooters and bikes to ensure they are not blocking sidewalks and other public right of ways. Walking, Muni, and bikeshares are my primary modes of transportation.
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)?
Yes, we need bikeshares to be a reliable option for users to get to all neighborhoods in San Francisco, including Treasure Island.
Do you support keeping JFK Drive and the Great Highway car-free permanently?
Yes, and I would have voted in support of car-free JFK had I been on the Board at the time of the vote.
I'm in favor of closing streets where practicable to allow more recreational uses and multimodal access — like JFK Drive — which was analyzed by MTA and Rec Park, and had extensive community input before the decision to permanently close it to cars.
I would support a similar process to determine the long-term solution for the Great Highway, although my general inclination would be to look favorably on expanding recreational uses.
Should Muni be free for everyone? If so, what other programs would you take money from in order to fund this change?
Taxes
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
What would you change about the process of new business formation?
Should San Francisco welcome all businesses, regardless of size?
I believe one of the great things about San Francisco is our history of both small and large businesses.
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
Do you believe that San Francisco has a shortage of homes?
Yes.
Do you believe that housing prices are set by supply and demand constraints?
Yes.
Should San Francisco upzone? If so, where and how?
Yes, particularly along transit corridors.
Should homeless shelters be exempt from CEQA, Discretionary Review, and Conditional Use permits?
Yes.
Should subsidized Affordable housing be exempt from CEQA, Discretionary Review, and Conditional Use permits?
Yes.
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.
Why are you running for Supervisor?
Affordable Housing, Public Safety, and Addiction are three issues I am committed towards making progress on because they are all core issues affecting the state of District 6.
What is your #1 policy goal?
I'm a strong advocate for housing, and I'm the only member of the Board of Supervisors to have joined Mayor London Breed, Senator Scott Wiener, and the Carpenters of Northern California in support of the Affordable Homes Now charter amendment to streamline housing production at all income levels, and in every part of San Francisco.
One of the issues that inspired me to be Supervisor was how the Board of Supervisors handled 469 Stevenson. If this came before me today, I would have voted in favor of he project so San Francisco could have 495 more housing units in the pipeline, with around 24% of those affordable. More importantly, the housing project was near transit, had support from local community residents and leaders, and created hundreds of union jobs.
How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal?
I will continue building upon my coalition by pursuing and continuing open-minded discussions and conversations with my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, as well as with state elected officials and influential community leaders and organizations, with the sole goal of meeting the state's housing production requirement.
Will the power of the office of Supervisor be enough to achieve this goal?
I am one supervisor who is making housing production a priority and will fight for increased production at every opportunity. However, we need to continue the work to elect more pro housing supervisors with the goal of supporting pro housing legislation and policies at the Board.
What are your #2 and #3 policy goals?
District 6 has one of the highest traffic fatalities, congestion, and levels of air pollution in San Francisco. However, D6 has an opportunity to serve as a global and national model for how urban environments can become more livable, healthy, and safe if we prioritize low-carbon modes of transportation, like walking, biking, and public transit.
To improve street safety, I'm working to champion a speed enforcement camera pilot program first initiated by former Assemblymember. David Chiu. This program will save lives, prevent injuries and regain progress we've recently lost in our objectives around Vision Zero. Additionally, I'm exploring with the support of the San Francisco City Attorney's Office possible non-enforcement-related speed camera options — like warning notices or even solely used for data collection — until state law authorizes automated enforcement.
Other improvements I'm exploring in the District include widening sidewalk curb ramps, creating more protected bicycle lanes, replacing outdated traffic light countdowns with longer countdowns, and lowering vehicle speeds on busy and notoriously congested streets.
Will the power of the office of Supervisor be enough to achieve these goals?
Unfortunately, no. Although there is greater consensus on the need to achieve safer streets, I need my colleagues on the board to prioritize these issues that impact not only District 6, but their districts as well.
What is an existing policy you would like to reform?
I want to better fulfill the promise of the Transit First Policy that voters enacted into our City Charter so that San Francisco becomes more livable and healthy for all residents, now and in the future. Additionally, supporting transit-first policies is necessary to achieve our net-zero carbon goals by 2040. If I'm elected to my first full term, I promise to support and fight to advance the transportation strategies in our City's 2021 Climate Action Plan, which I supported to fund through the San Francisco Department of the Environment during the most recent add-back funding.
What is an "out there" change that you would make to local or regional government policy, if you could? (For example: adding at-large supervisors, changing how elections work, creating a Bay Area regional government, etc.)
I think the entirety of Chapter 12 of the San Francisco Administrative Code —which largely governs restrictions and conditions on city contracting — is badly in need of reform. This has been an area in which "performative" legislation has managed to make competitive bidding far less competitive because San Francisco policymakers are punishing red states for objectionable policies. While these policies — governing choice and LGBTQ+ rights — are indeed objectionable, I have yet to see a single restriction on San Francisco's contracting or travel expenditures change a state law. What it's punishing instead is taxpayers, and it deserves a more thoughtful and comprehensive examination than it has gotten to date.
Personal
Tell us a bit about yourself!
How long have you lived in San Francisco? What brought you here and what keeps you here?
My work in local government and politics in San Francisco began more than 30 years ago, when as a newly arrived college graduate I served as a deputy press secretary and campaign finance assistant to former San Francisco District Attorney Arlo Smith in his 1990 bid for California Attorney General. Following a narrow loss for that office, D.A. Smith hired me to manage his successful 1991 re-election, and in that capacity I worked on the formation of a groundbreaking District Attorney's Hate Crimes Task Force to develop protocols for investigators and prosecutors to pursue cases under what were then newly enacted hate crime statutes in California.
Following a period of several years in which I worked in the Clinton Administration's Democratic National Committee and as a Democratic political consultant, I worked in 2001 for Dennis Herrera's campaign for City Attorney of San Francisco. Following Dennis Herrera's election, I soon after joined his office as communications director and senior advisor, and our work together over the next 14 years encompassed the broad panoply of high-profile legal issues facing the City and County of San Francisco — including housing, tenant protections, public safety, consumer protection, public integrity and more. Two of the highest profile achievements during my tenure in that office, in which my own role was central, involved that office's nine-year legal battle for LGBTQ+ marriage equality and the lawsuit that saved City College of San Francisco from closure by rogue accreditors.
After a three-year period in private sector consulting, which included successfully defending San Francisco's restrictions on vaping products from a well-funded ballot measure campaign by Juul Labs, Inc., I joined the San Francisco Police Department as director of strategic communications in January 2020. In that role, I managed a media relations unit that was distinguished among its public sector counterparts for 24/7 accessibility and that played a leading role in evangelizing the importance of 21st century police reforms that SFPD had been pursuing since 2016.
What do you love most about San Francisco?
What I love about San Francisco is its fearlessness in leading boldly and nationally. I'm proud to have been part of those kinds of nationally watched efforts in our City's work to win marriage equality, and I was part of it again at the San Francisco Police Department for its ambitious work to become a model of 21st century police reform.
What do you dislike the most about San Francisco?
The flip side of San Francisco's national leadership, however, is that its policy making too often ventures into the realm of performative — sending a message, rather than implementing serious change where it is needed. My answer on S.F. Administrative Code Chapter 12, regarding city contracting, is a good example of this: policies that may send a message, but that are not necessarily good government.
Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)
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.