John Avalos

John Avalos

Rafael Mandelman (left) and Avalos (right)
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from District 11
Assumed office
January 8, 2009
Mayor Gavin Newsom
Ed Lee
Preceded by Gerardo Sandoval
Personal details
Born March 11, 1964[1]
Wilmington, California
Nationality United States
Political party Democratic
Residence San Francisco, California
Occupation Politician
Website Supervisor John Avalos

John Avalos is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 11. The district consists of the Crocker-Amazon, Excelsior, Ingleside, Oceanview, and Outer Mission districts. He was elected on November 4, 2008 in the 2008 San Francisco elections and took office on January 8, 2009.

Early life

Avalos was born in Wilmington, California. His mother, an office manager, and his father, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, raised seven children.[2] His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother cared for them on her own. Avalos moved to Andover, Massachusetts as a teenager and graduated from Andover High School in 1982.[3]

Avalos earned a bachelor's degree in English from University of California, Santa Barbara and master's degree in social work from San Francisco State University. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college.

Early political and organizing work

Avalos worked as an organizer for Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth in San Francisco's Excelsior District, and on the Justice for Janitors Campaign for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1877. Avalos worked as an educator and counselor for the Columbia Park Boys and Girls Club, Mission Neighborhood Health Center, and San Francisco Conservation Corps.[4] For four years before being elected to the Board of Supervisors, Avalos was a legislative aide for supervisor Chris Daly.[5]

San Francisco supervisor

On November 4, 2008, John Avalos won the election for San Francisco District 11 supervisor with 28.23% of the total votes in round one and 52.93% in round four, under the city's instant-runoff voting system.[6] District 11 includes the Outer Mission, Excelsior, Oceanview, Merced Heights, Cayuga, and Ingleside neighborhoods.

As chair of the Budget and Finance Committee in 2009 and 2010, John Avalos led the Board of Supervisors' effort to approve budgets, closing deficits of over $500 million. In January 2011, Avalos was appointed to serve as chair of the City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee.[7]

In June 2010, Avalos introduced a resolution condemning "Israel's military attack on the freedom flotilla".[8]

On Tuesday, December 14, 2010, Avalos' local hiring ordinance passed with an 8-3 vote. This legislation mandates that up to 50% of labor hours on San Francisco public works projects go to San Francisco residents. Requirements start at 20% in the first year, building up to 50% after seven years.[9]

Avalos voted to reinstate Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff after Mayor Ed Lee initiated official removal proceedings against Sheriff Mirkarimi. Avalos said that removing Mirkarimi would be "a dangerous precedent to set and a slippery slope to open up as a political tool."[10] In the charging documents, Lee alleged a list of behaviors that Lee believed constituted official misconduct. Mirkarimi had previously plead guilty to the charge of misdemeanor non-violent false imprisonment against his wife in a plea bargain in a separate criminal court trial in which he was sentenced to probation and agreed to counseling.

In 2012, Avalos questioned whether the U.S. Navy should name one of their newest vessels after Harvey Milk, one of the nation's first openly gay politicians who was sadly gunned down by a colleague in 1978. He questioned whether Milk, who served as a Navy diver and dive instructor before becoming a politician, would want his name on the Navy vessel. Given that Milk was deceased, Avalos used a Ouija board to ask Milk's opinion. The ship was named after Milk, who honorably served his country's Navy, despite the protest from Avalos.

In 2013 Avalos sponsored legislation to prohibit San Francisco from complying with Federal authorities' requests to "hold" illegal immigrants who may be subject to deportation. [11]

In 2015, Avalos railed on Twitter against San Francisco's yearly Fleet Week which draws thousands of people along with hundreds of thousands of dollars for the local economy. Slamming the Navy and its Blue Angel flight team even though the majority of San Francisco's population supports Fleet Week and all the benefits of it.

In 2016, Avalos stated that he wants to ban the U.S. Navy's Blue Angel aerobatic team from flying over most of San Francisco despite the Blue Angel's outstanding safety and flight records calling the brightly painted, unarmed F/A-18s used by the squadron "killing machines". He also stated that their fly overs were "strafing neighborhoods".

Candidacy for mayor (2011)

On April 18, 2011, Avalos filed to run for mayor of San Francisco as a progressive candidate.[12] Avalos placed second in the race after current Mayor Ed Lee.[13]

Personal life

Avalos was married to Karen (née Zapata), a public-school teacher, and they have two children. Avalos is a third-generation Mexican American, Zapata a first-generation Peruvian American.[14]

Since 2014 Avalos and his wife have been separated. He revealed that he had an affair with his legislative aide, Raquel Redondiez. As of July 2014, Redondiez has been on unpaid leave from her job; the leave began May 28, 2014 and will expire at the end of July. Avalos said, "I felt it was most appropriate for her to find employment outside this office... I let a lot of people down, and I’m really sorry."[15]

References

  1. ↑ Sabatini, Joshua (2008-01-02). "Out with the old, in with new". San Francisco Examiner.
  2. ↑ "Supervisor Avalos-About". San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
  3. ↑ "Town Talk: '82 grad is San Fran pol and other quick hits". The Andover Townsman. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  4. ↑ "Supervisor Avalos - About". City and County Board of Supervisors, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  5. ↑ "The Case For John Avalos". Fog City Journal San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  6. ↑ "Ranked-Choice Voting Report - District 11". City and County of San Francisco Department of Elections. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
  7. ↑ "They have issues: Members of the new Board speak". Bay Guardian, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
  8. ↑ "SF considers condemning Israel's flotilla raid". KGO-TV San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
  9. ↑ "Sf Adopts Local Hiring Law". Bay Citizen, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  10. ↑ Knight, Heather; Coté, John. "Ross Mirkarimi to keep job, supes decide". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  11. ↑ "S.F. officials want city to stop detaining people on federal immigration holds". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2015-07-03.
  12. ↑ Coté, John; Knight, Heather (2011-04-18). "Progressive Avalos enlivens S.F. mayor's race". San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  13. ↑ "S.F. Supervisor Avalos admits affair with top staffer". SFGate. Retrieved 2017-07-16. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  14. ↑ "Board of Supervisors: John Avalos". City and County of San Francisco. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  15. ↑ "S.F. Supervisor Avalos admits affair with top staffer". SFGate. Retrieved 2017-07-16. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
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