By Chance Cutrano
The 2022 Midterm Election polls closed over a month ago, but we’re just now getting results back for some of the year’s closest races (looking at you, Oakland and Richmond!). We were fortunate to see many Sierra Club-endorsed candidates elected to public office across our Chapter. Over 82% of our endorsed candidates and ballot measures were victorious at the ballot box in 2022! These victories are thanks in no small part to our members and supporters who organized, got out the vote, and made their voices heard. Thank you to everyone who was part of this great election. I hope you’re taking some well-deserved rest!
Here are some of the many election wins that have been on my mind lately:
In Richmond, we saw exciting victories with the election of Eduardo Martinez as Mayor and Doria Robinson and Cesar Zepeda to the City Council. These wins will ensure that the council is comprised of strong leaders who will stand up for frontline communities and environmental protections. They will help us hold Chevron accountable and keep making progress on a number of our priority issues, such as the clean-up of Astra Zeneca’s heavily contaminated former chemical plant and our effort to save the Point Molate shoreline – one of our Chapter’s 30x30 local conservation priorities.
In Marin County, some of our strongest allies in Fairfax, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Larkspur and Corte Madera were re-elected with overwhelming support, and a new cohort of environmental champions were brought in to join them. What’s more, voters in Tiburon passed Sierra Club-endorsed Measure M, which will ensure the protection of the 110-acre Martha Property on the Tiburon Peninsula – another 30x30 conservation priority for the Sierra Club.
In Alameda County, all but one of our endorsed ballot measures are headed to victory. Of the numerous Sierra Club-endorsed affordable housing measures with a strong lead, one specific highlight is Berkeley’s Measure M: a vacancy tax aimed at increasing housing stock by incentivizing the owners of vacant dwellings to rent units they currently let sit empty. San Francisco voters passed a similar vacancy tax, Proposition M, to utilize existing housing to address our housing crisis.
And, as part of a growing desire to see our common streetscape reclaimed for vibrant community life and safe, multimodal transit, San Francisco voters rejected Proposition I (the measure that would reopen John F. Kennedy Drive and the Great Highway to cars) and approved the Sierra Club-endorsed Proposition J to permanently ban cars from JFK Drive in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
As the new councils are seated and the legislature convenes for its next session, one thing is certain: now that the election is wrapped up, the real work of bringing positive, lasting change to our communities begins. The Sierra Club’s San Francisco Bay Chapter will be working day-in and day-out with communities across our region to advocate for a healthier environment and a livable future for all. Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support of this vital work. We couldn’t do it without you.
From all of us at the Bay Chapter, we wish you a joyous and peaceful holiday season. Enjoy the rain. We will see you next year.