When presented with a chance to make smart decisions about our city’s future, San Franciscans overwhelmingly said yes to a more sustainable, healthy and welcoming city at the polls yesterday.
We want to thank every single candidate who ran for office and took their civic responsibility a step further. And of course, we want to thank our members for weighing in through our endorsements process, turning out to volunteer week after week to Bike the Vote and for casting your ballot for a more bike-friendly San Francisco.
As results roll in from Election Day, we are proud that the two local measures that we endorsed were victorious: Proposition A and Proposition C. We are also relieved that statewide, Proposition 6 was soundly defeated.
The victory for Proposition A will bring $425 million to urgently strengthen our crumbling Embarcadero seawall. This funding will ensure a more sustainable and resilient waterfront, which is critical given that our members are advocating for a world-class biking experience here.
Proposition C’s successful win means that we can finally fund known solutions to our city’s homelessness crisis. When we think about having truly safe and welcoming streets, we need comprehensive solutions that challenge our status quo, and yesterday, San Franciscans overwhelmingly voted to do just that.
The defeat of statewide measure Proposition 6 ensures that crucial and necessary funding for transportation projects, including bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements, is protected as we successfully rejected an attempted to repeal the gas tax.
When it came to races for our local offices, many of the bike-friendly candidates we endorsed also brought home victories at the polls.
We could not be more proud and excited for Janice Li, who will be bringing her years of experience as a community organizer and bicycle advocate onto the BART Board to represent District 8.
In District 4, our #1 endorsed candidate Gordon Mar has a lead in the race to represent much of the Sunset District on the Board of Supervisors. We look forward to working with him to hold transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft accountable and improve bicycle connections in the district.
In District 6, our #1 endorsed candidate Matt Haney will have to jump right in after his victory last night, because we’ll need political leadership to continue building out our network of protected bike lanes through the Tenderloin, SoMa and along our waterfront.
In District 8, we’re excited to continue working with Rafael Mandelman for a full term of four years, especially as our campaign to bring protected bike lanes on Valencia Street pedals forward.
In District 10, we were proud to endorse the victorious Shamann Walton and look forward to continuing our partnership to expand our Bike it Forward program to increase access to biking across the Bayview and beyond.
We want to give a thank you to Nick Josefowitz, who has brought so much new energy to the BART Board in his four years there. He ran an intense race for District 2 Supervisor, and whatever Nick’s next move is, we are certain to continue working with him for a more bike-friendly San Francisco.