JAIME GUTIERREZ
For San Francisco District 9 Supervisor
I’m Jaime Gutierrez and I’m running for Supervisor of District 9. I was born and raised in San Francisco and have lived in my beloved city my entire life. I am committed to bringing safety, economic security, and a sense of community back to our neighborhoods and helping residents and businesses grow and thrive.
Tourism is down. We have to return San Francisco to the world-class city visitors expect, where they can once again feel safe and excited about their experiences and where we, as residents, feel the same.
I’m dedicated to giving a voice to the under-resourced and to those, like me, who will live in this City for many years to come. I hope you’ll join me in taking a stand to transform our neighborhoods with hope, love, and respect. We’re looking for doers, donors, and door openers. Join the team today!
Something must change.
The change San Francisco needs will only happen if the person elected is committed to staying in San Francisco when their term is completed. This is my home.
Since 1967, I have only left my birth city for three years, to serve in the United States Army. I trained in the deep South and was stationed in Germany.
Returning home in 1989, I worked as a warehouseman, and as a door attendant at several bars and nightclubs around town. I attended City College and eventually transferred to UC Berkeley, graduating with a degree in Social Welfare and Ethnic Studies. I drove a cab and worked as a substitute teacher for SFUSD.
Currently I serve as a transit supervisor for SFMTA/MUNI. I was a bus operator from 2013 to 2019, and drove the 9, 27, 44, 52, 54, and 67 lines. Driving routes throughout District 9, I got to know my fellow community members and see some of their daily lives up close. This experience deepened my quest to serve and lead with empathy and purpose.
Why I am running.
Our District needs solutions for public safety, small business and public health now.
Our District – The Mission, Bernal Heights, St. Mary’s Park, and Portola – has many difficulties today. First and foremost, we absolutely must preserve and promote public safety. This District has many features that attract visitors from all over the world. Unfortunately, for the last eight years we’ve seen the cost of living here rise while the standard of living has plummeted. Crime is the order of the day rather than a sense of community and a welcoming spirit. Drug addiction and blight are plaguing us and this needs to be dealt with directly – without enabling people to destroy their own lives and at the same time ruining the quality of life for people that have to live and work around them.
Why I am qualified
I am a lifelong resident of this District.
I have worked directly with many of the residents and visitors of the District.
I am not afraid of standing up for what is right.
I am personally connected to the District.
I am not going anywhere.
I am here to help eradicate business as usual at City Hall.
San Francisco is out of balance.
A city is an ecosystem. There are families, individuals, businesses, and bureaucracies. When an imbalance exists we suffer. Today San Francisco is imbalanced as families, individuals and businesses are suffering.
We can revitalize District 9 together.
Valencia Street receives much attention with its failed bike lane, but MIssion Street has been doubly decimated by traffic control measures that discourage customers. Fentanyl is the next flavor of drug epidemic which brings crime, suffering, and death. Residents are unsafe from the realities that their safety may be compromised as in the home invasion on Siliman street or the recent automobile arsons in Bernal Heights. Visitors to the District would rather stay home and purchase online or go elsewhere which causes small businesses or families running these businesses to suffer since they lose customers.
The disruption to our District’s ecosystem is a failed bureaucracy and this District needs new leadership to bring balance back to our families and businesses by championing common sense policies that:
Bring security
Bring businesses more customers
Provide direction and hope to the most under-resourced members of our community
Vote for me, and together we will revitalize our District 9 together and restore the balance which will counteract the suffering we are all feeling as a community.
People need to be safe.
This is more than feeling safe. Today, the bureaucracy has encouraged the SFPD to be understaffed. This has led to much longer response times and biased choices on where to respond first. This natural bias can be countered with a larger police staff. The bureaucracy needs to be changed to encourage better hiring and retention policies.
Businesses need customers.
The bureaucracy has inadvertently made choices that directly reduce the number of customers our District’s businesses serve. For example, elimination of parking, parking costs, the Valencia bike lane, the Mission Street bus only lane, vehicle break-ins, and confusing traffic infrastructure such as no left turns or forced right turns. All of these bureaucratic choices encourage customers to stay home or go elsewhere.
Drug addiction and alcoholism are diseases of isolation.
Individuals affected by drug addiction and alcoholism exhibit behaviors that perpetuate isolation. The unfortunate truth is that the individual needs to decide for themselves that they want to accept help. The harm-reduction model needs to be updated to reflect the needs of the current epidemic. We need to return to funding detox centers where people can receive the treatment they need to make the critical personal choice to change their lives.