THREE CANDIDATES are fighting for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to represent District 10 as the current supervisor, Shamann Walton, is termed out.
District 10 covers the southeast corner of the city including the Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, Visitacion Valley and Candlestick Point neighborhoods. Walton has represented the district at City Hall since 2018.
There are 10 candidates in the running, but there are three contenders who have reported public campaign contributions and received major endorsements: J.R. Eppler, Theo Ellington and Dion-Jay “DJ” Brookter. All three say they want to make sure that District 10 gets the same focus from City Hall as other areas of the city.
“My vision for District 10 is taking our neighborhoods’ voices, our community voices, and making sure that City Hall hears them and begins to provide those basic things that we’ve been asking for so long,” Eppler said at a candidate forum in early October.
Ellington said he aims to “make sure that the southeast side of San Francisco gets the same energy, investment, and resources as the rest of the city.”
“I’m focused on making sure working people stay in San Francisco and have a voice in City Hall,” Brookter said in his candidate statement.
Dion-Jay “DJ” Brookter
Brookter is a former commissioner on the San Francisco Police Commission and a former member of the Sheriff’s Oversight Board. Originally from Fresno, Brookter moved to Bayview-Hunters Point in 2010 and rose up the ranks to lead the nonprofit Young Community Developers, an organization that provides wraparound services like housing and career development resources for youth.
“My vision is one that’s bright for those young people,” he said at a forum. “I’m someone who, for the last 16 years, has been a part of this community.”
His priorities are building more affordable housing, fighting to keep schools open, expanding job opportunities and workforce development, public safety through community-based prevention, and improving public transit access.
“When people can afford to stay in their homes, find good jobs, and build stable life, we can help prevent people from falling into crisis,” Brookter said in his candidate statement. “That means making sure people can access the resources, housing, and opportunities they need before they end up on the streets.”
J.R. Eppler
Eppler is a native of Oklahoma City but has lived in the Potrero Hill neighborhood since 2010 after attending Stanford University. Eppler is an attorney and has served as the president of the Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association. In 2022, he was chosen by then-board president Walton to serve on the city’s Board of Appeals.
“When I moved to District 10, 16 years ago, that’s when I started to learn what community was about,” he said at the forum.
Eppler said he wants to focus on building housing at all income levels with community input, public safety, bringing better public facilities like libraries and community centers, helping expand small businesses, growing job opportunities, and making public transit more reliable.
“I will deliver the complete, vibrant, and connected neighborhoods that District 10 residents deserve,” Eppler said in his candidate statement. “That means housing at a range of income levels and ensuring that new development includes infrastructure, benefits the community, and doesn’t displace the hardworking people who call District 10 home. That means clean and safe streets, well-maintained parks, and stronger commercial corridors.”
Theo Ellington
Theo Ellington was born and raised in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood and is on the Board of Directors for the Ruth Williams Opera House, a performing arts center in the Bayview neighborhood. He’s served on several city commissions, led homelessness initiatives with the Salvation Army, and worked as the director of public affairs for the Golden State Warriors.
His priorities are getting more housing built while avoiding displacement, public safety, combatting illegal dumping, improving public transit access, expanding workforce development programs, and increasing access to healthy and affordable food.
He also wants to focus on homelessness and the drug addiction crisis by opening up more shelter beds and prioritizing investment in sober and drug-free housing.
“District 10 can be a center for jobs and innovation, affordable housing without displacement, clean streets, parks, real community policing, better transit, and clean air,” Ellington said in his candidate statement.
Hunters Point cleanup oversight debate
The next supervisor will face a long-standing environmental battle over the cleanup of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “Superfund” site contaminated with hazardous materials after decades of naval activities that led to the accumulation radioactive material in the soil and water near the site.
Groups of residents have been fighting for community oversight of the cleanup process to help ensure it’s done properly to protect human health. The building demolition process is currently underway.
All three candidates agree that independent oversight of the cleanup is necessary.
“Community oversight is the prerequisite for us to ensure that it is both safe and transparent,” Eppler said at the forum.
Eppler also said he would advocate to bring independent verification of test results and the creation of a public dashboard showing test results of soil and dust monitoring.
Brookter said he’d work with the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, a group that focuses on uplifting Bayview-Hunters Point residents to fight for environmental and social justice. He also would push for the Navy and other agencies working on the cleanup to publish report cards on the status of the cleanup and try to bring jobs for residents to also work on the cleanup.
Ellington was one of the plaintiffs that sued property developers of a parcel at the site of the former shipyard in a lawsuit after Tetra Tech EC, a company hired by the Navy to clean up the site, was accused of falsifying radiological test results of soil .
“This issue is near and dear to me,” he said at the forum. “As many of you know, I live in the Hunters Point Shipyard, and when they originally lied about the toxic soil, I took them to court and I sued them, so I’ve been watching this very, very closely.”
Ellington said he’d want to grow capacity on the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee, which gets information from the Navy on the cleanup and provides community input on the redevelopment at the site of the former shipyard. He also wants to expand the air and soil testing to surrounding areas of the property and require independent verification of results.
Voters have until Tuesday, Nov. 3, to cast their ballots. The Board of Supervisors races in San Francisco use a ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to select multiple candidates based on preference.
Voters are assigned designated polling locations where they can cast their ballots in person on Election Day. The city also provides 37 ballot drop boxes for convenient ballot submission. Additional information about available voting methods and procedures is available through the San Francisco Elections Department.
