Milk, Harvey (1930-1978) "The day after Election Day is too late to find out where your candidate stands on the issues."

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The day after Election Day
is too late to find out
where your candidate stands
on the issues.

You've never had to guess
where Harvey Milk stands.
[2]
When bad ideas have threatened to destroy the neighborhoods, Harvey Milk fought them all the way.

Upper Market Street freeway:

For years the Advisory Committee on Upper Market Street has worked to devise a plan to control traffic, add landscaping and provide bicycle routes. Many of our neighborhood residents and merchants have worked long hours on this committee
The Muni Metro costing hundreds of millions of dollars was designed to move people quickly and safely under Market Street and to reduce dependence on automobiles.
Now the Chamber of Commerce wants to turn Market Street into a 6-lane freeway. Harvey Milk has fought them all the way.
At meetings of the Board of Supervisors and at on-site tours with Mayor Moscone, Board President Quentin Kopp and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, Harvey has argued the case for the neighborhoods.
Not one other candidate said one word of support.

24th Street commercialization:

The people of Noe Valley want to preserve the residential character of their neighborhood by limiting businesses to the ground floor only.
When business interests proposed converting scarce residential housing to commercial space on 24th Street, Harvey Milk helped stop those plans before the Planning Commission.
The only other candidate who spoke for down-zoning owns a store on 24th Street.

Porno zone:

When the Board of Supervisors considered creating a concentrated porno zone, Harvey Milk spoke out against it. What neighborhood wants to become a porno zone?
Harvey suggested dispersing "adult" establishments and strictly regulating their exterior appearance.
Not one other candidate testified.

Franklin Hospital expansion:

The neighborhoods in the shadow of Franklin Hospital have joined together to fight the hospital's expansion plans. These plans include a helicopter landing pad in a residential neighborhood and have been called unnecessary by Bay Area health planners.
Harvey Milk has testified at every hearing in opposition to this unnecessary, destructive scheme. No other candidate, including one who lives one-half block from the hospital, has testified in support of the neighborhoods.

Airport expansion:

Harvey Milk spoke out at public hearings in opposition to the wasteful airport expansion plan that would have cost almost $200 million. After the hearings the figure was reduced to $90, and Harvey still opposes it.
Harvey suggested that flights be re-routed to the under-used Oakland Airport. Money should be spent instead of revitalizing our Port.
Harvey will oppose any attempt to allow the Concorde to land in San Francisco.
Not one other candidate cared enough to testify at public hearings about the airport expansion plan, when their voice could have made a difference.

Parking garages:

When the Board of Supervisors considered building more subsidized parking garages, Harvey Milk reminded the Board that they were undermining SanFrancisco taxpayers' multimillion dollar investment in upgrading public transportation.
Not one other candidate testified.

All the candidates say they want to preserve the neighborhoods. Where were they when the neighborhoods needed them? Harvey Milk was there.

Where were the other candidates when you needed them?

[3]
When good ideas have come along, Harvey Milk has fought to make them happen.

District Elections:

The key to making City Hall respond to the neighborhoods is district elections. Several of the major candidates in District 5 were undecided or opposed to district elections as late as this summer.
Harvey Milk always has been a strong supporter of direct elections, speaking on its behalf throughout the city.
In the Prop T campaign, Harvey was one of district elections' chief proponents. Not only did he help rally an initially skeptical gay community for district elections, but Harvey showed true leadership in forging an alliance between two groups often at odds with each other- labor and neighborhood organizations.
Labor had its own plan for political reform, but Harvey knew that if it went up against district elections, neither side would win. First at a meeting at his store, then at a larger meeting with the city's labor leaders, Harvey played a key role in persuading labor to join in the district elections movement.

Harvey Milk and his own neighborhood:

The Castro Village Association

Four years ago Harvey Milk founded the Castro Village Association with 12 other small businesses, mostly gay-owned. Today, largely due to Harvey's leadership, the CVA has become an active, thriving and much-imitated merchants' association. It now has over 90 members, both straight and gay, and includes all the local banks.
The Castro Village Association was one of the few business associations to support district elections. The CVA also has sided with neighborhood residents, rather than with the Chamber of Commerce, on issues such as the Upper Market Street Beautification Plan.
The CVA has been so successful that other merchants' groups in the city have turned to Harvey, rather than to the Chamber of Commerce, for help in getting started.

The Castro Street Fair

Harvey Milk organized the first Castro Street Fair four years ago, and now that annual event has become the largest and most spirited fair in the city. Last year the fair won a $10,000 prize for neighborhood improvements.
Every neighborhood should have its own fair, reflecting the unique life of each neighborhood. Fairs aren't just for fun. The spirit of cooperation that neighbors bring to putting on a street fair soon becomes directed toward solving neighborhood problems. It never fails.

Harvey Milk and the budget:

Every candidate will make great-sounding promises about better services, lower taxes and reduced spending.
But unless your Supervisor knows how to analyze a billion-dollar budget, these promises never will become a reality.
Before starting his own neighborhood business, Harvey Milk worked for many years as a financial analyst on Wall Street and Montgomery Street.
He knows how to read between the lines in budgets, balance sheets and financial reports. He'll make sure we're getting our money's worth, and he'll be the first to blow the whistle when we're not.

Other battles for San Francisco:

Harvey Milk has stood up and fought for:

o the street artists

o childcare

o revisions in the police budget

o a community Police Review Board

o an expanded public library system

o lower in-city BART fares

o improvements in Muni service

o youth recreation programs in the Mission

o restoring the Golden Gate Park windmills

o restoring Fleishacker Pool

o lower taxi fares

o a workable dog policy in Duboce Park

o landmark status for the Castro Theater

o the Coors boycott in protest of the Coors family's support of racist, sexist, anti-union, anti-gay policies

Harvey Milk has confronted the City Assessor publicly and demanded that unfair property assessments stop.
Where were the other candidates when you needed them?
Harvey Milk was there.

Where were the other candidates when you needed them?

[4]
Who is Harvey Milk?

Harvey Milk was a decorated deep-sea rescue diver during the Korean War. Then the Navy found out he was gay.
A graduate of the State University of New York with a degree in Education, Harvey worked for many years as a financial analyst on Wall Street and continued in that profession after moving to San Francisco.
In May, 1970, the U.S invaded Cambodia, and Harvey Milk delivered an impassioned anti-war speech from the steps of the Pacific Stock Exchange. When he returned from his lunch hour, he discovered his speech had beaten him back to the office.
Not long after, Harvey opened Castro Camera with Scott Smith. Soon Harvey helped found the Castro Village Association and later originated the annual Castro Street Fair.
In 1973 he ran for Supervisor. For most voters, he was the first up-front gay candidate they had ever seen.
In 1975 Harvey again ran for Supervisor. He finished 7th, just behind the 6 re-elected incumbents, receiving 53,000 votes.
The following January, Harvey was appointed to the Board of Permit Appeals, the first gay person appointed to a city commission. Later he was fired for his political independence.
Harvey Milk has never hesitated to fight for his beliefs.

A Candidate who is gay:

The election of a gay person will mean that the last, most durable barrier of prejudice is broken. Young people of all minorities will see clearly that the system does work, and that the electoral process is open to everyone who wants to get involved and make some changes.
In the days and nights following the Miami anti-gay vote, thousands of angry and frustrated gay people, many of whom live in District 5, took to the streets to express their feelings.
Harvey was the only candidate to march with the crowds, not just to express how he felt, but also to learn what was on the minds of the people around him.
Shortly thereafter, Channel 5 selected Harvey to appear opposite Sen. John Briggs in a confrontation on human rights. Channel 5 reports an unusually high view response, with great praise for the forceful, articulate and well-reasoned arguments Harvey used to better his opponent.

We live in a very special district. District 5 always has led San Francisco in progressive reform. District 5 should have a very special supervisor- one who has shown guts, independence and leadership in the past, and one who will help us continue to lead in the future.

Friends of Harvey Milk for Supervisor
575 castro St., San Francisco 94114, 864-1390
William Hartmann, Treasurer
Design: Rivaldo Pabich Associates

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