some candidate stuff

content/post/202011-candidates.md

@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ the caricature of Buffy Wicks put forward by Beckles' supporters. While I would
 have preferred to elect somebody with a deeper connection to the district and
 with a more diverse campaign, I think Wicks has been a pretty good
 representative and [got some good laws
-passed](https://twitter.com/BuffyWicks/status/1300614466128633856).
+passed](https://twitter.com/BuffyWicks/status/1300614466128633856) (or at least
+almost passed: some of these failed due to weird last minute shenanigans where
+they passed both houses but didn't get reconciled).
 
 While I like the other "candidate", Sara Brink, and voted for her in the primary
 (Republicans have no business being on my ballot), she is not really running for
@@ -62,35 +64,118 @@ endorsements, I'm voting for Condes. But I'm not voting against anyone here!
 
 ## Berkeley School Directors: (choose 2)?
 
-Needs research. (Candidates are Laura Babitt, José Luis Bedolla, Mike Chang,
-Norma Harrison, Esfandiar Imani, Ana Vasudeo.)
+I've only done a small amount of research so far; currently leaning towards
+Laura Babbitt and Ana Vasudeo.
 
 ## Berkeley Rent Board: (choose 5)?
 
-Needs research. (Candidates are Bahman Ahmadi, Xavier Johnson, Andy Kelley,
-Carole Marasovic, Dan McDunn, Mari Mendonca, Pawel Moldenhawer, Wendy Saenz Hood
-Neufeld, Soulmaz Panahi, Leah Simon-Weisberg, Dominique Walker, Bianca Zahrai.)
+I've only done a small amount of research so far, but I usually end up voting
+for something close to the tenant slate, which this year is Xavier Johnson, Andy
+Kelley, Mari Mendonca, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Dominique Walker. (All but
+Mendonca fall into that "if the East Bay DSA and East Bay For Everyone agree,
+how wrong can it be?" category.)
 
-## AC Transit Director (at-large): Victoria Fierce
+## AC Transit Director (at-large): Victoria Fierce?
 
 writeup tk
 
 ## AC Transit Director, Ward 1: **JOVANKA BECKLES!**
 
+writeup tk (but go look at my 2018 discussion of Beckles for Assembly, where my
+hesitations were around housing, and this is not a housing-centric position)
+
+
+## AC Transit Director, Ward 2 (not my district): **JEAN WALSH!**
+
 writeup tk
 
+
 ## BART Director, D7: **LATEEFAH SIMON!**
 
-writeup tk
+Lateefah Simon has been an excellent BART supervisor. (District 7 is a strange
+district that contains a huge chunk of the East Bay from West Oakland out to the
+Carquinez Bridge, and also a bunch of SF from the Bayview through eastern SOMA;
+SF has enough population for 2.5 districts so the map gets drawn this way.)
 
-## East Bay Regional Park District Director, Ward 1: Norman La Force?
+Sharon Kidd is running against her. Her entire campaign is about being
+pro-police. No thanks.
+
+## BART Director, D1 (not my district): JAMIE SALCIDO
 
 writeup tk
 
-## Berkeley Mayor: ?
 
-Needs research.
+## East Bay Regional Park District Director, Ward 1: ?
+
+Elizabeth Echols was appointed to this seat in January when the previous
+director retired due to illness. So she is only technically running for
+"re-election".
+
+Just from reading the two candidates' [campaign](https://elizabeth4parks.org/)
+[sites](http://laforceofcourse.org/), Norman La Force seemed like the clear best
+candidate. Echols is a former Obama administration official whose career is
+interesting but not particularly focused on East Bay parks. Her endorsements
+come from a lot of people I respect but on the whole leans a little bit towards
+the "moderate" (for this area) side. La Force has a deep history of involvement
+with the East Bay parks, including being one of the main people behind the
+creation of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park (that wild park on the way to the
+Berkeley marina). He's got the more "progressive" side of the endorsement slate,
+which is where I tend to lean especially on issues that aren't directly
+housing-related. (Though... one of the big issues here is the development of
+Point Molate for housing, which he opposes. I don't know where I fall on that
+project --- it's certainly not a very transit-accessible place to focus new
+development.)
+
+Then I did more research on La Force. [This blog
+post](https://milliontrees.me/2020/09/29/on-november-3rd-vote-for-a-friend-of-the-east-bay-parks/)
+is a long anti-La Force polemic. For the most part I'm taking it with a grain of
+salt. It seems to mostly be a guy who has strong feelings against the removal
+non-native trees like eucalyptus; I'm not an expert on these issues but mostly
+am anti-eucalyptus. That said, some of the things La Force has done that are
+brought up in this post do trouble me. La Force's SPRAWLDEF group sued to block
+the creation of the new Bay Trail segment behind Golden Gate Field (which I
+love), according to [this Berkeleyside
+op-ed](https://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/02/04/unexpected-opposition-from-environmentalists-to-bay-trail)... although... maybe
+the op-ed is being disingenuous? Because the [actual filing it links
+to](http://www.well.com/user/pk/CDAWGS/Documents/SPRAWLDEF-filing.pdf) doesn't
+talk about the path at all. Maybe the path was just going to be collateral
+damage? Also, apparently when he boasts about doubling the size of the Point
+Isabel dog park, he's hiding that he tried to stop it from being an off-leash
+dog park at all. I'm not really a dog person but I know that Point Isabel is a
+wildly popular off-leash dog park, and I do think there's a place for off-leash
+dog parks even though I'd prefer that not all parks work that way.  The people
+who don't like La Force characterize him as being opposed to people using parks.
+
+I am pretty torn at this point. Based on endorsements and overall character, I
+lean towards La Force, but his opinions about specific parks that I know are
+opposed to mine. Leaning towards voting for Echols or abstaining. Would love
+advice from anyone who knows more about either of these candidates!
+
+
+## Berkeley Mayor: ?
 
-## Berkeley City Council, D3: ?
+I have not been super impressed by Jesse Arreguin's tenure as mayor. He hasn't
+been awful, but he hasn't been that great too. On the basis of issues and
+policies alone, I'm pretty impressed by the one challenger who seems like he
+might stand even a small chance of winning, [Wayne
+Hsiung](https://www.wayneformayor.com/). I found Hsiung to be pretty compelling
+when he knocked on our door and we talked for a bit.
+
+Hsiung is best known as the founder of the vegan activist group [Direct Action
+Everywhere](https://www.directactioneverywhere.com/), something he does not
+highlight as part of his campaign. I don't have strong opinions in either
+direction about this work itself. But I am definitely concerned by accusations
+that [DxE is an abusive cult](https://dismantledxe.wordpress.com/), and about
+[sketchy behavior toward a 16 year old when he was
+27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zUZzBWMS0) (and Hsiung [does not deny
+sending her these
+emails](https://www.directactioneverywhere.com/theliberationist/2020-5-8-saul-elbein-business-insider-and-the-corruption-of-modern-journalism)). Maybe
+this is a conspiracy by the meat industry to make him look bad, but it's
+concerning enough that I don't think I'm comfortable voting for him despite
+liking his platform.
+
+I may abstain.
+
+## Berkeley City Council, D3: Ben Bartlett #1, Deborah Matthews #2?
 
 writeup tk

content/post/202011-cheat-sheet.md

@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ State Assembly, D15 | Buffy Wicks
 Superior Court Judge, Office 2 | Elena Condes?
 Berkeley School Directors | ?
 Berkeley Rent Board | ?
-AC Transit Director (at-large) | Victoria Fierce
+AC Transit Director (at-large) | Victoria Fierce?
 AC Transit Director, Ward 1 | **JOVANKA BECKLES!**
 BART Director, D7 | **LATEEFAH SIMON!**
-East Bay Regional Park District Director, Ward 1 | Norman La Force?
+East Bay Regional Park District Director, Ward 1 | ?
 Berkeley Mayor | ?
-Berkeley City Council, D3 | ?
+Berkeley City Council, D3 | Ben Bartlett #1, Deborah Matthews #2?
 14 (stem cell research bonds) | Yes?
 15 (fix prop 13 for commercial property) | **YES!!!**
 16 (un-ban affirmative action) | Yes