A Municipal Bank in San Francisco? City Explores Revolutionary New Model
The Huffington Post
NOVEMBER 3, 2011: If Avalos knows one thing, it’s how to work a sympathetic crowd. Ringing up one applause line after another, the candidate hammered easy targets like the Wall Street bailout and tax cuts for the wealthy.

But one line in particular stood out. “San Francisco needs to look into starting its own municipal bank,” he said. “We need to stop doing banking with the very people who wrecked the economy.”

The assembled crowd, a motley assortment of union workers, mask-wearing anarchists and everyday people feeling trapped by high unemployment and a dour economy, erupted in a rapturous roar of support.

For the creation of a local government commission.

To study an obscure form of banking.

John Avalos Campaign Sparking More Civic Engagement from Arab Community in SF
New American Media
NOVEMBER 6, 2011: “If you care about justice, you care about justice for everyone,” [John Avalos] said. “I believe in seeing communities standing together and working together. Asian, Latino, African American, AMEMSA, (Arab Middle Eastern Muslim, and South Asian), etc.”

John Avalos for Mayor: Everyday giants can turn the city around
SF Bayview
NOVEMBER 5, 2011: I began this race as a city supervisor and was considered a long shot by some, because I didn’t have the backing of the city’s corporate elite. Recent polls have me now in second place, and I believe it demonstrates what people power can do.

Mayoral Candidate Profile: John Avalos
Foghorn Online
NOVEMBER 2, 2011: Dressed in a pink button-down shirt, red tie and grey suit, San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos began the interview by taking a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich. “Oh good, now you can record my lip smacking,” he said with a chuckle. Avalos is running for mayor of San Francisco in the November elections.

Occupy SF: No-show raid invigorates protesters
The San Francisco Chronicle
OCTOBER 28, 2011: John Avalos, center, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a candidate for Mayor, sits in support of Occupy San Francisco with protesters in San Francisco, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. San Francisco officials are warning anti-Wall Street protesters camped out in a city plaza that they face arrest if they continue to stay there around the clock. In a notice distributed on Tuesday, Police Chief Greg Suhr said the protesters in Justin Herman Plaza could be arrested on a variety of sanitation or illegal camping violations although police are not saying when that could occur.

Kids getting lots of attention in the S.F. mayor’s race
The San Francisco Chronicle
OCTOBER 23, 2011: There’s another new PAC for a truly endangered species: San Francisco’s kids. It’s called the San Francisco Parent PAC and members say they’re delighted the 11 serious candidates for mayor are finally paying attention to their concerns.

Mission Businesses Wheel in Bicycle Parking
Mission Loc@l
OCTOBER 22, 2011: Joseph Gross likes to park his two bicycles in front of ArtNow SF’s indoor stage, just to the left of the ping-pong table and right below a graffiti-stained, plastic trash bin. Architect David Hurley parks his bike on the rack his firm custom designed.

A new ordinance proposed by John Avalos last week (pdf) wants the owners of commercial buildings to treat bikers the same. Well, maybe not as well as Hurley’s employer, but the ordinance would require owners to either provide secure bicycle parking or allow their tenants to bring their bicycles into the building.

Common cents for San Francisco: Avalos schedules public hearing on a municipal bank
The San Francisco Bay View
OCTOBER 21, 2011: On Saturday, Oct. 15, KPFA Weekend News reported that the City of San Francisco probably pays private banks, mostly Bank of America, as much as $100 million a year in banking service and municipal bond underwriting fees. That’s arguably $100 million a year’s worth of common cents that San Francisco stands to gain for small business loans, schools, parks, mass transit, health, and other human and neighborhood services.

Truly critical mass
San Francisco Magazine
OCTOBER 19, 2011: Drivers, check your mirrors. Your days of owning the streets of San Francisco are over. Just ask the mayoral candidates. They’ll be the ones pedaling by you on Market, talking about their city as the next Amsterdam.

Among all the current bicycle-touting aspirants for office, Supervisor John Avalos is the one with the most street cred. By consensus the most progressive mayoral candidate, he’s been getting around San Francisco by bike since 1992.

“Now we’re at war because of gas, and because of our addiction to oil we’re blowing our opportunities for education and public infrastructure… The changes we need are so great that, at some point, you have to change your behavior,” Avalos insisted.

Occupy SF appeals to City Hall, but the standoff continues
The San Francisco Chronicle
OCTOBER 18, 2011: Frustrated by repeated late-night police raids on their encampments and empty statements of support by top city officials, hundreds of protesters with OccupySF entered City Hall today – under the watchful eyes of a large police presence with riot gear at the ready – to testify at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

Sup. John Avalos, who has been working to try to mediate the dispute between OccupySF and the city, responded to Lee’s speech by calling it “very frustrating. I’m alarmed that he is moving toward nightly standoffs with the Occupy movement.”

Avalos had invited OccupySF participants to raise their concerns during the public comment portion of the meeting, and he said that he plans to use their input to form a resolution or plan for how the city should accommodate a movement that six of the 11 supervisors professed to support at the meeting.

“DOGPAC” Changing San Francisco Politics

CBS Evening News
OCTOBER 15, 2011: They say every dog has its day. In San Francisco, a growing group of politically-minded dog owners certainly hopes it’s true for them.
DOGPAC has been “vetting” candidates in San Francisco’s November municipal election. Among those running for mayor, they have chosen John Avalos as dogs’ best friend — even though he doesn’t have one.

Avalos supports DOGPAC’s big issue: nothing less than liberty…the liberty to run free in some of the city’s biggest parks.

Click here to read the article.

Dog Lobby Has Political Bite in San Francisco
The Bay Citizen
OCTOBER 15, 2011: Last week, Supervisor John Avalos, a San Francisco mayoral candidate, landed one of the city’s more coveted endorsements when he won the backing of DogPAC, a relatively new political action committee representing dozens of dog lovers’ groups citywide.

According to Bruce Wolfe, DogPAC’s ambitious president, the endorsement has a big political bite: there are, after all, an estimated 180,000 dogs in San Francisco — surpassing the 107,000 or so children.“From Bernal Heights to Crissy Field, from east to west, there are thousands of dog owners who feel their voices aren’t being heard,” Wolfe said.

Keith Olbermann Talks Occupy SF With John Avalos
The San Francisco Chronicle
OCTOBER 13,2011: Supervisor John Avalos, who is running for mayor as a torchbearer for the city’s liberal progressives, got some face time on national television when he was interviewed on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. The issue: The Occupy Wall Street Movement’s migration to San Francisco’s Financial District.

Mayor’s Race Overlooks AIDS
The Bay Area Reporter
OCTOBER 13, 2011: In an article lamenting the silence regarding the issue of AIDS throughout this mayoral race, John Avalos was mentioned directly for his past and present support of HIV/AIDS funding:

‘During editorial board meetings with the B.A.R. several mayoral candidates touted their support for AIDS services. District 11 Supervisor John Avalos was a social worker when he first came to the city and worked at Clinica Esperanza, an HIV clinic that offers services to HIV-positive individuals in the Mission.

As chair of the Board of Supervisor’s Budget Committee, Avalos noted he championed funding for HIV prevention and AIDS health care and met with leaders of various HIV and AIDS agencies.

Asked if he would appoint an AIDS czar in his administration, Avalos said having such a position is “important” as there is a need to have someone “looking holistically at services.”‘

San Francisco Candidate Questionnaire John Avalos
The Huffington Post
OCTOBER 10, 2011: John Avalos
Describe Gavin Newsom in two words.
Smoke ‘n’ mirrors.

Describe Willie Brown in three words.
corporate-juiced operator

Describe Chris Daly in four words.
He’s always right, sometimes.

Click here to read the full article!

Get on the Bus With John Avalos
San Francisco Rising Action Fund
OCTOBER 9, 2011: We rely on Muni everyday.

That’s why we’re voting for John Avalos for Mayor. Cable cars, Muni buses and street cars are San Francisco icons, but not just for tourists’ pictures and film-set backdrops. A strong Muni benefits everyone who lives and works in this City. Our public transit system is a vital workhorse that everyday carries hundreds of thousands of San Franciscans— to and from school, work, museums, the grocery store, soccer practice and health clinics.

Everywhere for Avalos Day Adds Momentum, Visibility in Run up to Election Day
Fog City Journal
OCTOBER 9, 2011: With just one month to go before San Francisco voters decide who will be their next mayor, the campaign to elect Supervisor John Avalos fielded under clear Fleet Week blue skies yesterday a blitz of campaign activity and visibility throughout the city.

“Everywhere for Avalos Day was a highly successfully and truly unprecedented campaign event,” said Andy Blue, a campaign volunteer and event brain child. “Nearly 50 fun and unique mini-events took place in every district in the city, all conceived, created and hosted by Avalos supporters. We think Everywhere for Avalos Day really reflected what this campaign is about and what John as a candidate is about.”

Occupy SF Protest Camp Growing Again
The San Francisco Examiner
OCTOBER 9, 2011: Despite an early-morning raid Thursday by police and the Department of Public Works, Occupy SF protesters re-established their camp this weekend, taking up most of the block in front of the Federal Reserve building on Market Street.

Supervisor John Avalos, a candidate for mayor who supports the movement, said he would meet Tuesday morning with the Police Commission and police chief, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild, to discuss how the police can best accommodate protesters.

Police Raid OccupySF Encampment
Fog City Journal
OCTOBER 6, 2011: As many as 70 baton wielding, riot gear clad San Francisco police officers broke up a peaceful Wall Street protest encampment outside the Federal Reserve bank at 101 Market Street in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Supervisor and mayoral candidate John Avalos participated in yesterday’s protest march and defended the right of protesters to assemble while condemning the Federal Reserve, a private agency which is no more federal than Federal Express. He urged Americans to transfer what’s left of their savings accounts held in national banks into smaller community banks that care about the communities in which they serve. As part of his mayoral platform, Avalos is championing the creation of publicly-owned municipal and state banks.

[John's "I Stand With OccupySF" statement is also included.]

Endorsements 2011: Avalos for Mayor
San Francisco Bay Guardian
OCTOBER 4, 2011: The way the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting it, this city isn’t paying much attention to the Nov. 8 election. An Oct. 2 story cited a rumored poll showing that a third of the voters still think Gavin Newsom is mayor. And “nobody has a really big, attention-grabbing personality.”

And yet, this is a crucial election. The city’s in serious trouble. The budget has a huge structural imbalance, blue-collar jobs are vanishing, affordable housing lags far behind condominiums for millionaires — and planning decisions that are made in the next administration will change the shape of the city for decades to come.

Avalos is by far the best candidate, the strongest on the issues, the one who can be counted on to bring a progressive reform agenda and an age of innovation to City Hall. More than anyone else in the race, he understands the crisis facing the city and the need for dramatic action to protect tenants, poor people and what’s left of the city’s middle class.

Occupy Wall Street Protest in San Francisco
The Huffington Post
SEPTEMBER 30, 2011: “Why is life a bitch? Cause we don’t tax the rich!” Such was the chant of the nearly 200 San Franciscans who surrounded the Bank of America building in the center of the Financial District Thursday afternoon to rally against bank bailouts and the country’s uneven tax structure. The rally was a west coast offshoot of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests that have continued in New York City for nearly two weeks.

Mayoral candidate and city Supervisor John Avalos opened the march with a speech that attacked big banks.”Have you ever felt like you’ve been had?” he asked the crowd. “That’s why this building right here is a symbol of the incredible greed and wealth that has accumulated into fewer and fewer hands.”

“And how do they stay wealthy?” he added. “They took our tax dollars. They got bailed out.” Avalos then urged crowd members to take their money out of national banks and invest it in smaller, community banks that care about local concerns.

The SF Mayoral Race: John Avalos (AUDIO INTERVIEW)
SF Gate
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011: John Avalos represents District 11 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He once organized for the Justice for Janitors Campaign of the (SEIU) Local 1877 and has a degree in social work. He’s third-generation Mexican American, and was among the first in his family to graduate from a four-year college. And he is running to be San Francisco’s next mayor.

KALW News’ Ben Trefny is talking to every one of the 16 candidates for San Francisco’s top office, including Supervisor Avalos. In this interview, Supervisor Avalos explains his priorities for San Francisco, should he become mayor.

San Francisco Mayoral Candidates Split Where They Send Own Kids to School
The San Francisco Examiner
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011: In San Francisco, where one in three children attends private school, deciding where to educate the kids can be politically fraught — especially if one is running for mayor.

“It’s really public servants’ responsibility to send their children to public schools and be an advocate for public schools,” said NTanya Lee, campaign chair for John Avalos, whose children attend the public San Francisco Community School.

John Sticks Up for Local Union Workers in America’s Cup Plans
The San Francisco Examiner
SEPTEMBER 27, 2011: Avalos and Supervisor David Campos have called America’s Cup officials to committee hearings in recent months to monitor the progress of fundraising and planning for the international yacht race, which is expected to bring in $1.4 billion in economic benefits to San Francisco and the Bay Area, according to the Mayor’s Office.

“This is a unique opportunity to create a jobs plan that revitalizes our waterfront and puts our local communities and union members back to work,” Avalos said.

John Avalos a Progressive Voice in SF Mayor’s Race
The San Francisco Chronicle
SEPTEMBER 26, 2011: The left-leaning progressives haven’t occupied Room 200 in nearly two decades, and now it’s up to the first-term supervisor – born the year the Dylan song was released – to try to capture the city’s top job.

Avalos, who is one of 16 candidates, may be somewhat of a longshot to become San Francisco’s 44th mayor, but he’s hoping his campaign will help corral the progressives – among them tenant activists, transit-first proponents and advocates for immigrants, youths and the homeless – to vote for him and to stay energized beyond the Nov. 8 election.

“As a city, we are at the crossroads, and only we can change the tide,” Avalos, 47, exhorted the crowd at his campaign kickoff rally in May.

Op-Ed: A case for Avalos, Yee, and Dufty
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011: SEIU 1021 has always had a very close relationship with John Avalos. Avalos has been a steadfast supporter of crucial social and health- care services, and has been a leader in creating needed progressive revenue measures. But most importantly, John understands how essential jobs are for lifting people out of poverty and stimulating the local economy for everyone in San Francisco.

Endorsement Interviews: John Avalos
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
SEPTEMBER 19, 2011: Sup. John Avalos is running a grassroots progressive campaign for mayor. He is, he says, the only candidate talking about working-class people, and he wants to “create an administration that puts neighborhoods and people first.” He wants to create a municipal bank to use money the city now dumps into Wells Fargo and Bank of America for loans to small businesses and economic development. He told us that by the end of his eight years in office, he’d like to see the city bringing in $500 million a year in new revenue — for education, child care, Muni, parks, public health and other services.

SF Democratic Party Mayoral Endorsements: Incumbents Snubbed As Party Endorses Avalos, Herrera, and Onek
The Huffington Post
AUGUST 18, 2011: The San Francisco Democratic Central Campaign Committee, the organization in charge of the city’s Democratic Party, issued its endorsements on Wednesday and the results are sure to turn some of the city’s highest profile races upside down.

Instead of endorsing favored incumbents Mayor Ed Lee and District Attorney George Gascón for reelection, the party gave its blessing to the progressive candidates in each race—Supervisor John Avalos for mayor and former Police Commissioner David Onek for District Attorney.

Cities and states consider cell phone radiation laws
CNET
AUGUST 17, 2011: Though the science on the possible health effects of cell phone radiation is far from conclusive, several state and local governments are proposing legislation to address public concerns. And though no law has been implemented yet, it’s clear the issue isn’t going away. John Avalos proposed legislation last month that would amend the San Francisco Environment Code “to require cell phone retailers to provide their customers with information regarding how to limit exposure to the radio-frequency energy emitted by cell phones in place of the mandatory disclosure of Specific Absorption Rate values for cell phones.”

SEIU 1021 Announces Endorsements: Rejects Lee, Dual Endorses Avalos, Yee
Fog City Journal
AUGUST 15, 2011: In what may be considered a repudiation of interim Mayor Ed Lee and a significant boost to Supervisor John Avalos and Senator Leland Yee’s mayoral prospects, SEIU 1021, San Francisco’s largest public employees union, today dual-endorsed Avalos and Yee over Lee for mayor.

City Could Require Bicycle Access in Downtown Buildings
Streetsblog San Francisco
AUGUST 8, 2011: Commercial buildings in downtown San Francisco could be required to provide indoor bicycle parking accommodations under a proposal introduced at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

“One of the ways that we can really assure our bikes are safe from theft is to be able to bring them into our buildings,” said Supervisor John Avalos, who has asked the City Attorney’s Office to draft the legislation. “For many existing commercial buildings, there isn’t bike access,” said Avalos, “and we want to be able to provide that access in the future for cyclists in San Francisco.”

In Signs of Campaign Strength, Yee Collects Most Signatures, Avalos Collects Most Cheaply
The San Francisco Appeal
AUGUST 5, 2011: Four mayoral campaigns had very healthy signature totals submitted to the Department of Elections, according to records. State Sen. Leland Yee, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, and Supervisor John Avalos, with 6,665 strokes of the pen validated by city election officials.

The Avalos campaign certainly collected its signatures the most cheaply: with only two paid staffers on the campaign total, an all-volunteer effort collected 6,665 valid signatures, out of over 8,800 total collected. That’s only 1,000 less than the Herrera campaign — and with 14 weeks on the campaign trail to Herrera’s seven months, and with about a tenth of the financial resources.”It means you have a good base of volunteers and are doing the outreach,” Avalos said. “As the candidate who probably has the most to gain [from a good signature total], it shows we have the grassroots effort necessary to be successful.”

Chinese and Latino immigrants support Vargas
U.S. News Las Vegas
JUNE 29, 2011: More than a third of people living in San Francisco were born outside of the United States. These immigrants, some of whom are undocumented, have made America their home. Many from the Chinese and Latino communities, the 2 biggest immigrant populations, applaud Pulitzer Prize-winning Filipino journalist Jose Antonio Vargas for exposing himself as an undocumented immigrant to fight for immigration reform.

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos, a third generation Mexican-American, is running for mayor. “To stand up and say what his status is and talk about the DREAM Act, the change we desperately need in our immigration system, is an act of courage we are grateful for,” Avalos said. “We admire anyone leading the campaign for success and justice for immigrants in this country. Whether you’re Latino, Chinese or Filipino, we’re all one because we have the same dream.”

City insider By Heather Knight – Keeping families and kids in town
The San Francisco Chronicle
JUNE 26, 2011: As we noted, despite years of policy initiatives by city and school officials, new census figures show 5,278 fewer kids living in the city in 2010 than in 2000. That means just 13.4 percent of San Francisco residents are kids – one of the lowest percentages of any city in the country. Is it just a given that not many kids will grow up in the city, or can more be done? We took that question to the folks who should know best: city officials with kids of their own.

Supervisor John Avalos, who is running for mayor, has a 9-year-old daughter, Rene, and a 6-year-old son, Emiliano. Avalos learned perhaps more than anybody would ever want to know about the public schools in trying to get Rene, who has special education needs, into a school that worked for her.

Avalos believes the school district needs to create more small schools like San Francisco Community – and despite supervisors and mayors not having an official role in the public schools, he thinks they should use their bully pulpit to call for change.

Avalos has also asked the city attorney to draft a bond measure to fund the development of more affordable housing, provide down-payment assistance for first-time home-buyers and provide loans for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. He said he’d like to get it on the ballot next year.

Mayor: Social services agencies must plan for years of cuts
SF Public Press
JUNE 10, 2011: Lee proposes five year budget plan for non-profits. Avalos, a mayoral candidate and former budget committee chair who often sparred with Newsom’s administration over policy, praised Lee’s work while remaining skeptical of his priorities. Lee has been out to visit Avalos’ turf several times, a surprise for the working class area that was not frequented by Lee’s predecessor. Lee also pushed through clean-ups at Balboa Park BART Station. “He is someone who rolls up his sleeves and gets things done,” Avalos told his constituents, in what sounded as much like a challenge about the mayor’s future as it was a statement about his past.

Avalos introduces SF-San Mateo Local Hire agreement
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
JUNE 7, 2011: “The local hiring ordinance is about making sure we create job opportunities in San Francisco when the city invests taxpayer dollars in construction projects. We included the flexibility to craft reciprocal agreements with other cities and counties, and that’s exactly what was accomplished in the deal that was reached between San Francisco and San Mateo.”

Hill Dumps Anti-Local Hiring Law
The Bay Citizen
JUNE 3, 2011: State legislation designed to crack down on local-hiring rules, such as those adopted last year by San Francisco, was dumped Friday after the city and San Mateo County struck a labor accord.

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos, who championed the city’s local-hiring legislation after similar proposals had stalled for more than a decade, said the city had always intended to reach such an agreement with San Mateo County. “We had anticipated when we crafted the legislation that we would need to assure municipalities in the region that they would have access to jobs,” Avalos said. “The ordinance has language that references the negotiation of reciprocity agreements to guarantee that access.”

Controversial anti-local hiring bill abandoned
The San Francisco Bay View
JUNE 3, 2011: Assembly Bill 356 sent to “inactive file” following statewide opposition, partnership between San Francisco and San Mateo counties. “This is great news for our neighborhoods and for workers that have been historically locked out of local opportunities. It shows what a coalition that’s a cross-section of Black, Brown, Asian and white can do – across this city and across this state,” said Oscar Grande, community organizer with ¡PODER ! (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights), who co-emceed last fall’s local hiring rally at City Hall. “We hope that neighborhoods facing the same types of issues and needs down the Peninsula will push their legislators to do what Supervisor Avalos has done for our communities.”

World Health Organization questions cell phone risks
The San Francisco Chronicle
JUNE 1, 2011: The WHO report is far from the final word, but saying that cell phones are maybe carcinogenic has shock value. And it ought to propel efforts before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the California Legislature to strengthen disclosure requirements to consumers.

In San Francisco, that could take the form of fact sheets given to phone customers on minimizing exposure levels , as proposed by Supervisor John Avalos.

Awaiting Consensus on Pension Reform
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
MAY 31, 2011: Ed Lee’s pension reform plan, though having co-sponsorship by two mayoral candidates (Chiu and Avalos) lacks support from SEIU 1021.

Avalos, who described Lee’s proposal as “a sensible approach” and “the right way to go,” has said that if SEIU’s concerns aren’t adequately addressed, he’ll withdraw his sponsorship.

Political Notebook: Ammiano backs Avalos for mayor
Bay Area Reporter Online
MAY 26, 2011: Openly gay state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has endorsed District 11 Supervisor John Avalos to be the city’s next mayor.

John Avalos channels Bob Dylan
The San Francisco Chronicle
MAY 24, 2011: Supervisor John Avalos commemorated Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting by reciting the lyrics to ”The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” — the singer/songwriter’s iconic anthem embraced by the counter-culture movement in the 1960s.

Big launch for Avalos, emphasizing unity and integrity
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
MAY 23, 2011: State assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Eric Mar, SF Democratic Party Chair Aaron Peskin, and Mission Bay Community Church Founder Bruce Reyes-Chow all stood behind John as he officially kicked off his campaign for Mayor this Sunday.

Closure of golf course sought for species’ sake
The San Francisco Examiner
MAY 21, 2011: Avalos recently requested to draft legislation that would close the Pacifica’s Sharp Park Golf Course sporting facility for the sake of two endangered species.