November 2018: District 10 needs a strong leader for the community and the environment; vote for Theo Ellington (1) and Tony Kelly (2)

Soon, Board President Malia Cohen will be termed out after eight years, and District 10 will see a new supervisor. Meanwhile, the district continues to struggle with serious environmental and community issues. These include decades of toxic pollution and transportation decisions that isolated this area from the rest of the city.

Against this sober backdrop, SFLCV is pleased to announce our first-place endorsement of Theo Ellington. We believe Ellington has the priorities and experience to tackle D10’s big issues head on.

Ellington is first and foremost pro-housing, and especially affordable housing. Thousands of homes have been built and will continue being built in D10 — and they’re needed. The city and regional affordable housing crisis is not going away any time soon. San Francisco’s failure to deliver housing projects is shameful. For too long, NIMBYs in the city have stopped housing projects or reduced their size, exacerbating the crisis. We need a leader who will help. If done right, building more mixed-income housing in D10 will help stem the flood of people becoming homeless in our city — and will also support local businesses, public transportation, and community investments, including open space. Ellington understands the needs for benefits and better infrastructure for the community as new development comes in, and we believe he’ll speak up to make sure these benefits materialize.

Second, Ellington supports public transit and calls for better options for the district, including improving the T (or offering alternatives) for local residents, providing better east-west connections, and adding water transit too. He is a strong supporter of bike amenities and infrastructure. This is critical at a time when San Francisco needs to reduce cars on local streets, get to Vision Zero, and provide better, greener transportation options for everyone. In various parts of the city recently we’ve seen opposition to bike lanes and bike share, and we need a leader who will work with the local stakeholders to promote biking, and not undermine it.  

Finally, Ellington strongly opposes the long legacy of making District 10 what he calls a “dumping ground” of “toxic soup.” Along with local homeowners, he recently filed a complaint against Tetratech for falsifying their cleanup, and says he is committed to turning this toxic legacy around.

SFLCV is endorsing Tony Kelly in the second position. Tony has a long history of civic engagement, advocacy work, and community leadership in D10. His unwavering passion and deep knowledge of environmental and community issues, especially around the Shipyard cleanup and the power plant closure, demonstrate he will continue to fight for D10 at City Hall.

You can read Theo Ellington’s answers to our candidate questionnaire here.

You can read Tony Kelly’s answers to our candidate questionnaire here.