Op/Ed: The Guardsman endorses John Avalos for Mayor

By Joe Fitzgerald

The Guardsman

When it comes to the values that we at The Guardsman feel represent City College – support of public education, local hiring, labor rights, tenant’s rights, affordable healthcare, and better public transit – only one candidate could fit the bill on all accounts: John Avalos.

A social worker who is married to a school teacher, he is a product of a community college education, and is putting his own children through public schools. He puts his money where his mouth is by making public education a clear choice.

Avalos is a strong advocate for the 99 percent, having shown his support for the Occupy SF movement by speaking at the event and on national television with Keith Olbermann.

As supervisor of District 11, which includes City College, he has been in step with the college Board of Trustee’s mandate for more local hiring in San Francisco construction, which calls for 40 percent of construction hires to be San Francisco residents. As the Chinatown campus takes shape, that means a significant number of jobs guaranteed for the citizens of San Francisco.

Avalos also has some of the most concrete plans for MUNI reform of any of the candidates, including regional funding, which recognizes that every day thousands of people from the East and South Bay use the mostly San Francisco-funded MUNI to commute to and from work.

He also backed SF supervisor David Campos’ legislation to close a damning loophole in the Healthy San Francisco reimbursement program. Campos’ legislation would allow thousands of working citizens access to healthcare funds that businesses have been pocketing at every opportunity.

Most importantly, Avalos has gone on record in an interview with The Guardsman with his support of a parcel tax to aid the college even as Sacramento continues to cut the legs out from beneath us.

His passion for San Francisco, public education, and working class citizens makes John Avalos the clear candidate of choice as a mayor who will support our college and the people it serves.

The Guardsman’s ranked choices:

1. John Avalos

2. David Chiu

3. Bevan Dufty

 

About our endorsement:

City College of San Francisco’s The Guardsman is the voice of the student body of San Francisco. The editorial staff came to our endorsement decision through strong research into the issues that concern our fellow students, aligned with our years of experience in covering stories close to them.

The Guardsman is run entirely by students, and is not directly affiliated with AFT 2121 or the SEIU 1021, the City College Board of Trustees or Associated Student Council.