{"id":301603,"date":"2026-05-05T23:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/301603\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:28:10","slug":"meet-the-district-2-candidates-do-you-support-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/301603\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the District 2 candidates: Do you support layoffs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to our \u201cMeet the Candidates\u201d series, where District 2 supervisor candidates respond to a question in 100 words or fewer. Answers are published every Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>District 2 covers neighborhoods in the north of the city including the Presidio, the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, Anza Vista, and portions of the Western Addition and North of the Panhandle.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/03\/sf-budget-deficit-shrinks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$650 million<\/a>. That\u2019s how large San Francisco\u2019s budget deficit is expected to be over the next two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To close the gap, Mayor Daniel Lurie plans to cut $400 million this year, with $100 million of that coming from cutting 500 jobs, either through layoffs or by eliminating positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the city\u2019s labor unions do not think layoffs need to happen to close the deficit \u2014 and have pledged to <a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/04\/sf-lurie-layoffs-unions-fight-ifpte-seiu-budget\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fight<\/a> the 127 pink slips Lurie has already handed out. They have placed a <a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/01\/sf-ceo-tax-lurie-supervisors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">business tax measure<\/a> on June\u2019s ballot to bring in more revenue to the city. Until that money hits, they want the city to spend from its reserves.<\/p>\n<p>Both Stephen Sherrill and Lori Brooke <a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2026\/05\/sf-district-2-debate-marina\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">oppose the union\u2019s business tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This week\u2019s question: Do you support layoffs this budget cycle? Why or why not?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mission Local color codes the answers to yes\/no questions. A blue background means the candidate answered yes, an orange background means no, and a yellow background means that the candidate dodged the question.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sherrill-Blue-640x640.png\" alt=\"Cartoon illustration of a man with short brown hair wearing a blue suit, light blue shirt, and black tie, set against a blue circular background.\" class=\"wp-image-839657\" style=\"width:250px\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Stephen Sherrill<\/p>\n<p>Job: Appointed District 2 Supervisor<\/p>\n<p>Age: 39<\/p>\n<p>Residency: Homeowner, has lived in District 2 since 2015<\/p>\n<p>Transportation:\u00a0Driving, public transportation, biking<\/p>\n<p>Education: Bachelor\u2019s degree from Yale University<\/p>\n<p>Languages: English<\/p>\n<p>Layoffs should be a last resort. The Controller projects a $168.5 million shortfall next year and structural deficits topping $1 billion after that, so cuts are coming. But we should start by modernizing City Hall, eliminating duplicative departments, and reforming a contracting process plagued by costly delays and pay-to-play. That\u2019s how you balance the budget without gutting core services. <\/p>\n<p>If layoffs prove unavoidable, they should focus on administrative overhead rather than the frontline workers residents depend on, and any cuts must be targeted, transparent, and protect public safety and first responders.<\/p>\n<p>Endorsed by: Mayor Daniel Lurie, GrowSF, Nor Cal Carpenters Union, San Francisco Police Officers Association, SF YIMBY, Northern Neighbors, San Francisco Democratic Party, Sierra Club \u2026 read more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.votestephensherrill.com\/endorsements#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Brooke-Blue-640x640.png\" alt=\"Cartoon illustration of a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black blazer and light blue top, set against a blue circular background.\" class=\"wp-image-839660\" style=\"width:250px\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Lori Brooke<\/p>\n<p>Job: President, Cow Hollow Association<\/p>\n<p>Age: 62<\/p>\n<p>Residency: Homeowner, moved to the district 31 years ago<\/p>\n<p>Transportation:\u00a0Driving and walking<\/p>\n<p>Education: Bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara<\/p>\n<p>Languages: English<\/p>\n<p>While layoffs may be necessary at times, they should be a last resort. San Francisco\u2019s budget challenges are real, but we need to fix how City Hall operates before cutting the people who deliver services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That means auditing departments, consolidating duplicative programs, holding leadership accountable for results, and cutting vacant positions that are not critical.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Too often we fund programs without measuring outcomes, resulting in wasted funds. If we make real reforms, we can avoid layoffs. If not, we have to be honest that everything is on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>My priority is protecting workers and essential services while addressing inefficiencies.<\/p>\n<p>Endorsed by: Former District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, former State Senator and Supervisor Quentin Kopp, UESF, CA Working Families Party\u00a0\u2026\u00a0read more\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Lori-endorsements.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Candidates are ordered alphabetically and rotated each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at io@missionlocal.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You can register to vote via the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sf.gov\/register-vote\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sf.gov website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to our \u201cMeet the Candidates\u201d series, where District 2 supervisor candidates respond to a question in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[12497,35072,101,103,102,104,106,105,9531],"class_list":["post-301603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-district-2","tag-election-2026","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-stephen-sherrill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}