Win Kimberly Win!
The only regret I have about my recent vacation in Thailand and Cambodia is that I missed my friend Kimberly Alvarenga filing for District 11 Supervisor on the morning of December 11. It has been more than fifteen years since there was a lesbian on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and aside from Christina Olague’s brief tenure as appointed District 5 Supervisor, it’s been even longer since there has been Latina representation on the Board.
Next year, Kimberly will be offering the voters of District 11 the opportunity to break those sorry streaks, but her candidacy offers the voters so much more than the chance to balance out the Board’s demographics. Kimberly is principled, grounded, smart, compassionate and effective; in short, she’s exactly the kind of person who should be in elected office.
The race will not be easy; Kimberly has two strong opponents, both straight men. But she is going to work her butt off, and she has some strong allies: former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, current District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, District 9 Supervisor David Campos, and School Board member (and likely District 1 Supervisor candidate) Sandra Fewer all showed up for her filing, along with neighborhood and tenant activists and leaders from the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Latino Democratic Club, the San Francisco Labor Council, AFT 2121, and SEIU 1021, where Kimberly is the Political Director. These folks know how important it is to elect Kimberly, and with all of our help, I know she can best those boys.
AFT 2121 Calls Off Strike Vote
Just before Thanksgiving, the leadership of AFT 2121 (City College’s teachers’ union) voted to call off a strike authorization vote precipitated by what the union asserted were unfair labor practices on the District’s part. City College’s teachers are understandably frustrated both with the substance and pace of contract negotiations. Our teachers are earning less than they were in 2007, and our full-timers are especially impacted, as they are earning less than almost all their peers at other community colleges in the Bay Area. It is an intolerable situation, and yet the District’s ability to fix it, at least over the short term, is constricted by the reality of the College’s alarmingly reduced enrollment and the consequent prospect of losing tens of millions of dollars in State funding less than two years from now.
At a time like this, you would ideally want a College administration firing on all cylinders, able to respond quickly to union questions and proposals and swiftly analyze and propose creative solutions. Unfortunately, what we have is an administration just beginning to rebuild and reorient itself after years of radical disruption; regular readers of this column know the litany: five chancellors in four years, all three vice chancellors new since the summer, an organization chart checkered with vital positions that have gone unfilled for months, and in some cases, years. I believe in Chancellor Susan Lamb, and I believe she is providing leadership that over time will bring our College back from the brink, but for the moment, the institution is simply not functioning optimally, which is, of course, enormously frustrating to those who have to interact with it, including our unions. As it is to the Board. As, I know, it is to the Chancellor.
Notwithstanding all of that, it is encouraging to me that the College and the union were able to resolve the issues that prompted the strike vote without actually seeing a strike. Whether this episode may serve as a foundation for an improving negotiating environment going forward, only time will tell. But ultimately I know that our teachers love and care about our College, as does our Chancellor and the people she is bringing in and up. We should be able to work this out.
The Training Wheels Come Off
State Chancellor Brice Harris has informed City College that as of December 31, 2015, Special Trustee Guy Lease will no longer have the ability to overturn decisions of the local Board of Trustees, but will continue on in a purely advisory capacity. In his letter informing the College of his decision, Chancellor Harris expressed his satisfaction with the actions and progress of the local Board since he initiated the handover of authority from the Special Trustee earlier this year, and noted the extensive professional development activities in which the Board members had participated. I believe this is the right decision; indeed, my view has been that whatever the failings of the old Board, they were not great enough to merit suspending local control.
But I also realize that, right or wrong on that particular question, Chancellor Harris has consistently done what he understood to be necessary to save City College, and without his strong support over the last several years, we might well not have survived. For that, as I have said before, we owe him our gratitude. The Office of the State Chancellor will continue to be a necessary partner in City College’s restoration, but now it’s up to the local Board to show that we are actually up to the job of governing; I am confident that we are ready.
Rafael Mandelman is an attorney for the City of Oakland. He is also President of the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees.
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