Instructions:
1. There are 10 sections to this questionnaire. Each section corresponds with the 10 Key Values of the Green Party.
2. Each section begins with a written question and ends with several multiple-choice questions. Please don't skip the written question.
3. The multiple-choice questions are answered by checking the box in the appropriate column to indicate which is closest to your position:
+ = Support / Agree / Yes
- = Oppose / Disagree / No
: = Undecided / Don't know / No opinion
4. The world is too complex to always break down neatly into yes/no/maybe choices, so feel free to clarify any answers to multiple choice questions with a few words.
Candidate Name: Brian J Larkin
Phone Number: 415 810-7840
Web site: Larkin4BART (under development)
E-mail: brian@brianjlarkin.com
Name of Campaign Manager: Deborah Chan Larkin
Major Endorsements:
Incumbent Board Member whose votes most reflect your values: no opinion
Incumbent whose votes least reflect your values: no opinion
1) Grassroots Democracy: Please describe how you make your political decisions. What is the main basis for your decision making (e.g., consultation with your constituents, political consultants, colleagues, unions, businesses, donors, or your gut feelings)
Constituents consultations, except for on my core issue, which is rail transit expansion to the west side of the City.
+ - ?
[ ] [ ] [ ] More transit agencies should have elected boards of directors.
No opinion
[ ] [ ] [ ] Create a system of public financing for all elected officeholders, including elected transit agency directors
It would sure help me, as I have no donors yet.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Create limits on campaign contributions to members of elected transit agency boards
OK with me - see answer to #4 above
[ ] [ ] [ ] Regulate contributions to officials who are elected to regional boards
OK with me - see answer to #4 above
[ ] [ ] [ ] My campaign accepts corporate contribution
I haven't, but haven't been offered any.
[ ] [ ] [ ] My campaign accepts contributions from paid lobbyists or related entities having any interest in City and County of San Francisco or beyond
I haven't, but haven't been offered any.
2) Ecological Wisdom: Please outline your view of the major environmental and ecological issues facing San Francisco and your proposed policies to address them.
Most significant environmental threat in SF is air pollution and most of that is from automotive sources. Ubiquitous, grade-separated electric rail transit would provide part of the solution
+ - ?
[ ] [ ] [ ] Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector
Electric transit vehicles, especially because SF generates its own power at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. For BART specifically, wayside energy storage to use the power generated by the dynamic-braking of the trains to help accelerate the train when it starts moving again.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Reducing or eliminating parking minimums in new housing and commercial developments
Reducing is good, especially in transit-oriented developments.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Congestion tolls on Doyle Drive No opinion.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Livermore BART extension I favor it, but with less priority than rail extensions in SF.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Rail Around the Bay BART extensions to Warm Springs, San Jose, and Santa Clara I favor them, but with less priority than rail extensions in SF.
3) Social Justice: A) Did you take a public position on the Oakland Airport Connector? Please explain.
No. Good project, but would rather have had a rail extension to the SF westside.
B) What are your views on Transit-Oriented Development and efforts to create affordable housing?
I favor it, but would want assurance that the residents commit to using the transportation for their work commuting at a minimum.
How do you see peak oil impacting your votes on the BART Board of Directors?
I don't see any effects. I advocate for more and better transit regardless of the price and availability of oil.
+ - ?
BART directors should focus on maintaining the existing system as opposed to building extensions to suburbs. [ ] [ ] [ ] I don't see these goals as mutually exclusive.
Hiring more fare evasion teams [ ] [ ] [ ] It's an option, but I would need to see better quantification of the problem before supporting it.
Fences around BART property to prevent camping No opinion.
4) Nonviolence: What are your solutions for improving the accountability of the BART police force while making the system safer?
More coordination with the communities
Do you think the BART police force should exist? Yes
Do you think BART police officers should carry guns and/or tasers? Yes, as long as gun violence is so prevalent in the US, I don't see an alternative
Create of a BART police force citizen oversight committee [ ] [ ] [ ] Yes
Create an office of the Independent Police Auditor for the BART police [ ] [ ] [ ] Yes to either this or the citizen oversight committee.
Automated surveillance of BART system to alert police of illegal activities. Maybe, dependent on the nature of the system.
5) Decentralization: In general, the Green Party supports the principle of decentralization. What is your proposal for making our Bay Area transit agencies at once decentralized and at the same time efficient, affordable, and appealing?
Coordination among agencies is crucial, but would best be implemented incrementally and re-evaluated for effectiveness regularly.
+ - ?
Create one regional, elected transit agency [ ] [ ] [ ] Maybe, but detail-dependent
Create a system whereby a portion of sales and property taxes assessed by transit districts must be spent in those transit districts. Depends on details of the system
6) Community Based Economics: What economic policies, including taxation, land use from the Planning Department, and investment from the Redevelopment Agency would you propose that would drive capital into our communities and keep that capital here for residents?
+ - ?
[ ] [ ] [ ] Local hiring requirements should be enforced Yes
[ ] [ ] [ ] Downtown transit assessment fee Yes
[ ] [ ] [ ] Citywide transit assessment fee [ ] [ ] [ ] Prop 13 limits on tax increases should apply only to residential properties Yes, though exceptions should be available to smaller properties.
7) Feminism: Women continue to be underrepresented in government. Why do you believe this is the case?
There are still the vestiges of a male-dominated, old-boy network of an electoral system. It's not as prevalent in the Bay Area as elsewhere, but it still exists.
Is this a bad thing, and if so, what would you do to remedy this?
The City should help provide more quality childcare to working parents It would be a positive step, as few couples can afford to live in SF unless both of them work.
+ - ? [ ] [ ] [ ]
8) Respect for Diversity: Do you think the significant money lost in civil case suits like Oscar Grant's and others jeopardize the relationship between unions and management to impose/draw up any present/future union- management agreements or contracts?
+ - ?
[ ] [ ] [ ] Non-citizen residents should be able to vote in all local elections no
[ ] [ ] [ ] Full rights for transgender persons yes
[ ] [ ] [ ] Boards and commissions now reflect the ethnic diversity of San Francisco The ones that I am on do.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Boards and commissions now reflect the political diversity of San Francisco The ones that I am on do
[ ] [ ] [ ] My campaign reflects the diversity of San Francisco yes
9) Global and Personal Responsibility: What are your thoughts on how the 2013 BART contract was negotiated?
They took way too long to reach the same settlement they could have had months earlier, and this is a regular occurrence.
[ ] [ ] [ ] BART should hire outside help to negotiate union contracts Only if regular negotiations fail
10) Sustainability: What does the Transit First City Charter provision mean to you? How has Transit First fared in recent years, and how would you enforce that Charter Provision if elected?
Not the purview of the BART Board
[ ] [ ] [ ] MUNI should be funded greater levels and be free to the rider. Yes to funded better; no to free.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Higher residential construction along neighborhood transit corridors, which may include raising height limits by two to three stories. I favor on a case by case basis
[ ] [ ] [ ] State law change that lets bicycles treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs yes, and I already do this, legality of it not-withstanding.
[ ] [ ] [ ] I ride MUNI, bicycle and/or walk instead of driving on a regular basis yes
[ ] [ ] [ ] Allow residents to park on the sidewalk without getting a ticket, unless their neighbors complain no
[ ] [ ] [ ] Congestion pricing for parking yes
[ ] [ ] [ ] Power more City vehicles using corn-based ethanol No.
[ ] [ ] [ ] Residents should be allowed to park in the street in front of their own driveway for free No
[ ] [ ] [ ] Support expanding parking meter hours to include later evening hours and weekends I favor on a case by case basis
[ ] [ ] [ ] Remove parking spots and car lanes to create dedicated bike and bus lanes or wider sidewalks I favor on a case by case basis.
Due Date: Friday, August 24, 11:59 pm.
Please submit by email to cc@sfgreens.org. For more information, call Erika McDonald at 415-337-1499. Please return your answers in plain text (not HTML, PDF, or Word format), so that we can post all candidates' answers in the same format.
The SF Green Party invites all candidates who return completed questionnaires on time to speak and answer questions at our candidate forum and endorsement meeting (tentatively scheduled for Wed, Aug 29 from 6-9 pm). If you need to schedule a particular time slot, or if
you are unable to make the meeting, please be in touch with us at cc@sfgreens.org. Otherwise, we'll interview candidates as you arrive. Our forum and endorsement meeting will take place in the theater on the 2nd floor of the Redstone Building, located at 2940 16th Street
(between Mission and South Van Ness, 1 block from 16th St BART).
Completed questionnaires will be posted on our website, http://sfgreenparty.org.