This footage is from October 31, 2003.
I took advantage of having access to Tom Ammiano in person Friday to ask him about the other propositions on the ballot. What he said makes sense to me. I hope it will be helpful to you in making your decisions about tomorrow's elections.
Video clip - Why YES On Prop I (4 MB)
Lisa: "How about 'I'? Child care for low income families."
Tom: "I think it's a very good concept, but I also think this was put on the ballot as an opportunistic measure. It doesn't really talk about how it's gonna be done or where all the money is gonna come from. It's like, you know, alright, I'm gonna put something on the ballot like "be nice to old people," "don't beat up the disabled," "let's have childcare." Well, who's gonna vote against that? But the real proof in the pudding is how are you gonna make it happen, and what was your background? Now everyone has religion lately about public schools, because it's the mayor's race. Alright fine, we don't need purism and motivation. I'm the person in terms of public education with my background in education as a Board of Education member. My own kid went to public schools. My late lover taught for fifteen years. I don't feel proprietary, but I certainly feel prepared. And what we have proposed is a 60 million dollar set aside from the city government rewriting its mission for universal preschool, for arts and music for libraries in health, and for PE and sports, and that's going to be a charter amendment I hope to see on the ballot in March. And I think the buzz out there is that this is really a good thing for our public schools in San Franciso. So in terms of Prop I, I think it's a nice gesture. Again, pass or fail it's not going to make that much of a difference."
Lisa: "So you would say No? To vote No on it?"
Tom: "No! I would say "fine."
Lisa: "To go ahead and vote for it?"
Tom: "Yes. But understand that it's not always going to meet with the promises, and that it's a Mayoral election device too."
