Shamann Walton

Shamann Walton
Official portrait, 2019
President of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
In office
January 8, 2021 – January 8, 2023
Preceded byNorman Yee
Succeeded byAaron Peskin
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from the 10th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 8, 2019
Preceded byMalia Cohen
Personal details
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic
Residence(s)San Francisco, California
EducationMorris Brown College (BA)
San Francisco State University (MPA)
OccupationPolitician
WebsiteBoard of Supervisors: District 10

Shamann Walton is an American politician. He has been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 2019, representing District 10, and served as president of the Board from January 8, 2021 to January 8, 2023. Walton earlier served on the San Francisco Board of Education and was its president immediately prior to his election as supervisor.[1]

Early life

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Walton was raised by his mother in Vallejo, California. His teenage years were often troubled; he was expelled from the Vallejo City Unified School District and was in juvenile hall numerous times.[2][3]

Walton graduated from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia in 1998.[2] He received his master's degree in public administration from San Francisco State University in 2010.[4]

San Francisco Board of Supervisors

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Walton was elected supervisor for District 10 on November 6, 2018, receiving 9,550 first preference votes (41.22 percent of all valid votes).[5] After allocation of preferences from eliminated candidates in San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system, Walton received 63.07 percent of final-round votes, to runner-up Tony Kelly's 36.93 percent.[1][6] He was sworn in at the Board of Supervisors' January 8, 2019 meeting, replacing Malia Cohen, who was ineligible to run for re-election after two four-year terms and had been elected to the California Board of Equalization.

The Board elected Walton its president in 2021.[7]

Housing

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Walton was the only member of the Board of Supervisors to explicitly reject a potential plan to allow four-plexes in San Francisco in areas previously restricted to single-family housing (which had been implemented in the state capital of Sacramento).[8] He stated that the Sacramento bill "would speed up the gentrification" and "this policy is bad for San Francisco."[8]

In 2019, Walton supported a resolution that expressed opposition to California Senate Bill 50, which mandates denser housing near “job-rich” areas and transit hubs.[9]

Policing

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In December 2018, Walton and supervisor Hillary Ronen put forth legislation calling to close San Francisco's youth detention center by December 2021.[3]

In June 2020, during the nationwide George Floyd protests, he introduced a resolution to ban the San Francisco Police Department and Sheriff's Department from hiring officers with a history of serious misconduct.[10] In October, he introduced the CAREN act, which would make fraudulent emergency telephone calls motivated by racism illegal.[11]

Racial issues

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In February 2020, Walton put forth a resolution calling for reparations for the city's African American population. The resolution itself forms a working group that will further develop the plan.[12]

In July 2022, Walton admitted to using a racial slur against an African American sheriff's cadet at San Francisco City Hall because he was frustrated with having to take off his belt for metal detectors.[13] Walton was later determined by the city's human resources director to have retaliated against the cadet for filing a report, in violation of city policy.[14]

In 2024, Walton passed an ordinance which declares Vietnamese as an official language of San Francisco. As a rationale for the change, Supervisor Walton stated, "San Francisco is home to many diverse immigrant communities and is a national leader in providing language access services with one of the strongest and most comprehensive local language access laws."[15]

Transportation

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In July 2020, Walton and supervisor Aaron Peskin opted to not introduce a $100 million sales tax measure into the November 2020 ballots to finance Caltrain, which has seen a 95% reduction in ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. Ride fares account for 70% of the service's operating budget. The supervisors cite the lack of shared authority on the Joint Powers Board over the train line's management, which was operated by the SamTrans, and the regressive nature of the sales tax to fund operations for a service whose customer base has a mean income of $120,000 as pain points to supporting the measure. However, Peskin mentioned that the measure can still be introduced by the mayor or other supervisors if they wanted to.[16][17] The supervisors later changed their minds when Caltrain pledged to make changes to its structure, making it more independent from SamTrans.[18]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park was made car-free. Walton and Ahsha Safaí opposed keeping the road car-free after the pandemic. Walton argued that keeping JFK Drive car-free was segregationist and recreational redlining. Data obtained by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department showed that no district showed a change in its proportion of overall visits to JFK Drive by more than 1.5% during the pandemic, with Walton's District 10 showing a decrease of 0.3%.[19]

Personal life

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Walton is a Christian.[2] He is a father of two.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Thadani, Trisha (November 28, 2018). "SF declares supervisor race winners: Stefani, Mar, Haney, Mandelman, Walton". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Vallejo A&E Source Unique Spotlight: Shamann Walton". Times-Herald. April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Eskenazi, Joe (April 15, 2019). "Shamann Walton's deeply personal quest to shut down Juvenile Hall". Mission Local. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "PACE Program Updates | School of Public Affairs & Civic Engagement". pace.sfsu.edu. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  5. ^ SF Elections 2018a.
  6. ^ SF Elections 2018b.
  7. ^ Eskenazi, Joe (January 8, 2021). "Shamann Walton is your new board president, as back-room maneuvering stays in the back room". Mission Local. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "San Francisco is one of California's most conservative cities - when it comes to housing". SFChronicle.com. January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  9. ^ "Resolution Opposing Wiener's SB 50 Housing Bill Heads to Full Board". SF Weekly. April 4, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  10. ^ Fracassa, Dominic (June 3, 2020). "SF supervisor wants ban on hiring police officers with records of misconduct". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  11. ^ Yancey-Bragg, Miriam Fauzia and N'dea. "Fact check: San Francisco's CAREN Act will make racist, nonemergency 911 calls illegal". USA TODAY. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  12. ^ Bay City News Service (February 12, 2020). "Supervisor Walton introduces reparations plan for city's African American residents". SFGate. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  13. ^ Swan, Rachel; Cassidy, Megan (July 30, 2022). "S.F. supes president allegedly used slur while berating cadet at City Hall security check". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  14. ^ Morris, J.D. (August 8, 2023). "S.F. Supervisor Walton retaliated against cadet over City Hall security check incident, city finds". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  15. ^ "San Francisco declares Vietnamese an official language". Northwest Asian Weekly. June 24, 2024. Archived from the original on June 26, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  16. ^ Graf, Carly (July 15, 2020). "Caltrain's future in jeopardy after supervisors block sales tax measure". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  17. ^ Swan, Rachel (July 15, 2020). "Caltrain might have to shut down after supervisors scuttle sales tax measure". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  18. ^ Ruggiero, Angela (August 7, 2020). "It's official: Caltrain tax measure will be on the ballot after last-minute vote". The Mercury News. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  19. ^ Knight, Heather (May 15, 2021). "Fight over JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park continues despite new data showing closure isn't an equity issue". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 16, 2021.

Sources

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