Wikipedia

Sandra Lee Fewer

Sandra Lee Fewer (Chinese: 李麗嫦) (born 1956 or 1957) is an American politician who served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing Supervisorial District 1 during the years 2017-2021.[2] It includes the neighborhoods of Inner Richmond, Central Richmond, Outer Richmond, Lone Mountain, Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park, and University of San Francisco.

Sandra Lee Fewer
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from District 1
In office
January 8, 2017 – January 8, 2021
Preceded byEric Mar
Succeeded byConnie Chan
Personal details
Born1956 or 1957 (age 67–68)[1]
Political partyDemocratic
EducationCity College of San Francisco
Golden Gate University (BA, MPA)
OccupationPolitician
WebsiteBoard of Supervisors
District 1 website

Early life and education

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Fewer is a fourth-generation Chinese American, and a San Francisco native.[3][4] Fewer attended City College of San Francisco before earning a Bachelor of Arts in justice administration and a Master of Public Administration from Golden Gate University.[5]

Career

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Fewer was elected to the San Francisco Board of Education in 2008 and served for eight years.[4][6] She was elected president of the school board in 2014.[5]

From 2001 to 2009, Fewer served as a director for Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth.[3][5] In June 2016, Fewer was elected to the San Francisco Democratic Party County Central Committee as the fourth highest vote getter in District 19, eleven places ahead of her main opponent in the District 1 race, Marjan Philhour.[7]

Fewer was elected as the District 1 representative of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in November 2016, replacing supervisor Eric Mar, who had reached his term limit.[6] She was sworn in on January 8, 2017, becoming the first female supervisor of the Richmond district.[8] Her election created a female majority on the Board of Supervisors for the first time in 20 years.[8] Fewer opted not to run for re-election, retiring from the Board of Supervisors at the conclusion of her term in January, 2021.[9]

Legislative record

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Fewer presents her Administrative Aide, Jackie Thornhill, with a certificate of honor in recognition of Transgender Awareness Month in November, 2019.

Fewer authored numerous pieces of legislation addressing housing policy, including the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act giving affordable housing non-profits right of first offer to purchase buildings on the market,[10] and legislation setting aside half of all new excess property tax revenue for a fund dedicated to the production of affordable housing.[11] Fewer also authored Prop E, a ballot initiative to rezone public land and large lots for development of 100% affordable housing that passed with 76.3% of the vote in November, 2019,[12][13] secured a state grant to create a Westside Affordable Housing Development Organization,[14] and allocated funding to bring mobile homeless services to her district.[15]

Fewer also focused on disaster preparedness and response both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Early in her term, she secured $205 million for an expedited expansion of the city's auxiliary water supply system, built in 1913, which historically left much of the Westside and outer neighborhoods of San Francisco vulnerable to fires.[16] In March and April 2020, Fewer and her staff worked to improve communication between the Board of Supervisors and the city's Emergency Operations Center.[17]

Fewer authored legislation to create an Office of Racial Equity,[18] and the "People Over Profits" ordinance, which prohibits the city from profiting off of communication services such as phone calls and price markups within the jail commissary. The measure is built off of London Breed and Vicki Hennessy's efforts in June 2019 calling for similar reduction in fines. It was unanimously passed by the Board in July 2020.[19] Fewer also authored legislation accelerating the closure of the City's Hall of Justice jail,[20] and secured funding for the creation of an Immigrant Defense Unit in the San Francisco Public Defender's Office.[21]

Fewer added 12 small businesses in her district to the City's Legacy Business Registry throughout her term,[22] and authored legislation requiring landlords to register vacant and abandoned storefronts, providing the City with previously unavailable data on commercial retail vacancies.[23] Fewer worked with Assemblymember Phil Ting to secure a $2 million state grant to renovate the Golden Gate Park dog training area.[24]

Fewer founded the "One Richmond" program and annual community party, with the expressed principles of inclusivity, taking care of one another, taking care of the community, and supporting small businesses by shopping and eating locally, summarized by the term "doing your one Richmond thing."[25][26] She also worked with local merchants associations and nonprofits to expand San Francisco's annual Autumn Moon Festival to the Richmond neighborhood,[27] and organized annual community health fairs in the Richmond to connect residents with free health screenings and other resources.[28]

Fewer was a vocal opponent of former President Donald Trump throughout her term, authoring a resolution calling on Congress to impeach him in late 2017,[29] and referring to him as "a psycho person."[30]

Conflict with SFPOA

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On November 5, 2019, at an election night party for then-candidate for district attorney Chesa Boudin, Fewer participated in a chant of "fuck the POA", referring to the San Francisco Police Officers Association. SFPOA president Tony Montoya called for Fewer to apologize, calling her words "worrisome and completely unacceptable and unbecoming of someone elected to represent all San Franciscans."[31][32]

In an open letter, Fewer apologized to SFPD officers but not the SFPOA, whose leadership she described as having "a long and sordid history of opposing police reforms, publishing explicitly racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, and directly threatening their critics, including my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, myself and my husband, and its own members."[33]

Fewer's claim that the SFPOA leadership threatened her were later substantiated when Mission Local published an email in which former POA President Gary Delagnes threatened to release the disciplinary records of Fewer's husband, a retired SFPD officer. Delagnes doubled down on his threat in the article, telling Mission Local editor Joe Eskenazi that "you can tell Sandra the next time she opens her mouth, I'm going to release John's record."[32] Current POA President Tony Montoya publicly apologized to Fewer on behalf of the organization during a discussion over a new contract for the City's police officers at a Board meeting in late 2020.[34]

Personal life

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She and her husband, former San Francisco police officer John Fewer, raised their three children in the Richmond district, where she has lived for over 50 years.[1][3][35]

Selected awards and recognition

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Matthew S. Bajko (October 13, 2016). "Political Notebook: Moms battle for SF District 1 supe seat". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  2. ^ THADANI, TRISHA (January 15, 2020). "San Francisco Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer will not run for re-election". sfchronicle.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Heather Knight (January 16, 2016). "City Hall's 5-year mom drought may end in November". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "The School Board Graduate – Sandra Lee Fewer, Richmond". The Bay City Beacon. January 2, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "School Board Elects Officers for 2014 Sandra Lee Fewer is New Board President". San Francisco Unified School District. January 15, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Green, Emily (November 21, 2017). "Sandra Lee Fewer wins SF supervisor's race". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  7. ^ "June 7, 2016 Official Election Results". SF Department of Elections.
  8. ^ a b Collister, Nikki (January 9, 2017). "Eschewing City Hall, District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer Takes Oath Of Office In The Richmond". Hoodline. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Eskenazi, Joe (January 15, 2020). "Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer will not run for re-election". Mission Local.
  10. ^ Mojadad, Ida (April 16, 2019). "City Grants Nonprofits First Priority in Building Sales". SF Weekly.
  11. ^ Mojadad, Ida (April 23, 2019). "Half of City's Future Windfall Funds May Go to Affordable Housing". SF Weekly.
  12. ^ Mojadad, Ida (November 11, 2019). "Affordable Housing Wins Big in Off-Year Election". SF Weekly.
  13. ^ "November 5, 2019 Election Results - Summary". SF Department of Elections.
  14. ^ Mojadad, Ida (December 11, 2019). "Mission Nonprofit Makes First Richmond Purchase to Protect Tenants".
  15. ^ Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Joe (July 30, 2019). "Homelessness grows on SF's sleepy west side". San Francisco Examiner.
  16. ^ Fracassa, Dominic (February 11, 2018). "SF Moves to Build Water System to Fight Fires". San Francisco Chronicle.
  17. ^ King, John (April 23, 2020). "Inside S.F.'s coronavirus emergency operations center, where 400 workers run the city's response". San Francisco Chronicle.
  18. ^ Sabatini, Joshua (July 14, 2019). "Office of Racial Equity to address The City's deep inequities". San Francisco Examiner.
  19. ^ Service, Bay City News (July 1, 2020). "Board Approves Permanent Ban On Profiting Off Phone Calls And Other Jail Services". SFGate. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  20. ^ Barba, Michael (April 14, 2020). "Fewer introduces legislation to speed up closure of Hall of Justice jail". San Francisco Examiner.
  21. ^ News, Bay City (May 23, 2017). "SF Public Defender Launches New Immigration Court Unit". NBC Bay Area. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  22. ^ Fewer, Sandra (January 3, 2021). "City Hall: Sandra Lee Fewer - The End of a Rough Year". Richmond Review.
  23. ^ Brinklow, Adam (March 6, 2019). "City Hall considers taxes, fees for constantly empty storefronts". Curbed.
  24. ^ "Renovated Golden Gate Park Dog Training Area Opens Saturday". San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.
  25. ^ "One Richmond".
  26. ^ Fewer, Sandra (February 5, 2020). "City Hall – Announcing a New Chapter". Richmond Review.
  27. ^ B., Sarah (September 13, 2017). "Autumn Moon Festival to debut on Clement Street, September 23". Richmond District Blog.
  28. ^ "15TH ANNUAL RICHMOND COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR". One Richmond.
  29. ^ Creighton, Caron (October 25, 2017). "City Hall Rally Calls For Trump's Impeachment". Hoodline.
  30. ^ Bajko, Matthew (April 5, 2017). "Political Notebook: D1 Supervisor Fewer emerges as vocal Trump critic". Bay Area Reporter.
  31. ^ Sernoffsky, Evan (October 6, 2019) "SF supervisor leads anti-police union ‘F— the POA’ chant at DA election party." San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved November 6, 2019.)
  32. ^ a b Eskenazi, Joe (December 30, 2019). "Former police union boss threatened supervisor by warning he'd leak her husband's confidential police records". Mission Local.
  33. ^ Sandra Lee, Fewer [@SandraLeeFewer] (November 6, 2019). "An open letter to San Francisco Police Officers" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. ^ Redmond, Tim (November 17, 2020). "Supes approve police contract that many agree is a bad deal". 48 Hills.
  35. ^ Nikki Collister (December 23, 2016). "New District 1 Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer Talks Affordable Housing, Transit, Education, More". Hoodline. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
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