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Sandra Lee Fewer () (born 1956 or 1957) is an American politician who served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing Supervisorial District 1 during the years 2017-2021. It includes the neighborhoods of Inner Richmond, Central Richmond, Outer Richmond, Lone Mountain, Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park, and
University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...
.


Early life and education

Fewer is a fourth-generation Chinese American, and a San Francisco native. Fewer attended
City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franci ...
before earning a Bachelor of Arts in justice administration and a Master of Public Administration from
Golden Gate University Golden Gate University (GGU or Golden Gate) is a private university in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1901, GGU specializes in educating professionals through its schools of law, business, taxation, and accounting. The university offers s ...
.


Career

Fewer was elected to the
San Francisco Board of Education The San Francisco Board of Education is the school board for the City and County of San Francisco. It is composed of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, state, and federal laws, an ...
in 2008 and served for eight years. She was elected president of the school board in 2014. From 2001 to 2009, Fewer served as a director for Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth. In June 2016, Fewer was elected to the San Francisco Democratic Party County Central Committee as the fourth highest vote getter in District 19, eleven places ahead of her main opponent in the District 1 race, Marjan Philhour. Fewer was elected as the District 1 representative of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in November 2016, replacing supervisor
Eric Mar Eric Lee Mar (born August 15, 1962) is an American politician. He served on the San Francisco Board of Education and San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee. In 2008, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He repres ...
, who had reached his
term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...
. She was sworn in on January 8, 2017, becoming the first female supervisor of the Richmond district. Her election created a female majority on the Board of Supervisors for the first time in 20 years. Fewer opted not to run for re-election, retiring from the Board of Supervisors at the conclusion of her term in January, 2021.


Legislative record

Fewer authored numerous pieces of legislation addressing housing policy, including the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act giving affordable housing non-profits right of first offer to purchase buildings on the market, and legislation setting aside half of all new excess property tax revenue for a fund dedicated to the production of affordable housing. Fewer also authored Prop E, a ballot initiative to rezone public land and large lots for development of 100% affordable housing that passed with 76.3% of the vote in November, 2019, secured a state grant to create a Westside Affordable Housing Development Organization, and allocated funding to bring mobile homeless services to her district. Fewer also focused on disaster preparedness and response both before and during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Early in her term, she secured $205 million for an expedited expansion of the city's auxiliary water supply system, built in 1913, which historically left much of the Westside and outer neighborhoods of San Francisco vulnerable to fires. In March and April 2020, Fewer and her staff worked to improve communication between the Board of Supervisors and the city's Emergency Operations Center. Fewer authored legislation to create an Office of Racial Equity, and the "People Over Profits" ordinance, which prohibits the city from profiting off of communication services such as phone calls and price markups within the jail commissary. The measure is built off of London Breed and
Vicki Hennessy Vicki Hennessy was the Sheriff of San Francisco and the city's first female sheriff. She was appointed interim sheriff by Mayor Ed Lee (politician), Ed Lee pending an ethics investigation of the elected sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, who was charged ...
's efforts in June 2019 calling for similar reduction in fines. It was unanimously passed by the Board in July 2020. Fewer also authored legislation accelerating the closure of the City's Hall of Justice jail, and secured funding for the creation of an Immigrant Defense Unit in the
San Francisco Public Defender's Office The San Francisco Public Defender's Office is an agency of the Government of San Francisco. Since 1921, it has provided legal assistance to indigent individuals charged with violations of California state law by the San Francisco District Attorne ...
. Fewer added 12 small businesses in her district to the City's Legacy Business Registry throughout her term, and authored legislation requiring landlords to register vacant and abandoned storefronts, providing the City with previously unavailable data on commercial retail vacancies. Fewer worked with Assemblymember
Phil Ting Philip Yu-Li Ting (born February 9, 1969) is an American politician currently serving in the California State Assembly. He is a Democrat representing the 19th Assembly District, which encompasses western San Francisco and northwestern San M ...
to secure a $2 million state grant to renovate the Golden Gate Park dog training area. Fewer founded the "One Richmond" program and annual community party, with the expressed principles of inclusivity, taking care of one another, taking care of the community, and supporting small businesses by shopping and eating locally, summarized by the term "doing your one Richmond thing." She also worked with local merchants associations and nonprofits to expand San Francisco's annual Autumn Moon Festival to the Richmond neighborhood, and organized annual community health fairs in the Richmond to connect residents with free health screenings and other resources. Fewer was a vocal opponent of former President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
throughout her term, authoring a resolution calling on Congress to impeach him in late 2017, and referring to him as "a psycho person."


Conflict with SFPOA

On November 5, 2019, at an election night party for then-candidate for district attorney Chesa Boudin, Fewer participated in a chant of "fuck the POA", referring to the San Francisco Police Officers Association. SFPOA president Tony Montoya called for Fewer to apologize, calling her words "worrisome and completely unacceptable and unbecoming of someone elected to represent all San Franciscans." In an open letter, Fewer apologized to SFPD officers but not the SFPOA, whose leadership she described as having "a long and sordid history of opposing police reforms, publishing explicitly racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, and directly threatening their critics, including my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, myself and my husband, and its own members." Fewer's claim that the SFPOA leadership threatened her were later substantiated when Mission Local published an email in which former POA President Gary Delagnes threatened to release the disciplinary records of Fewer's husband, a retired SFPD officer. Delagnes doubled down on his threat in the article, telling Mission Local editor Joe Eskenazi that "you can tell Sandra the next time she opens her mouth, I'm going to release John's record." Current POA President Tony Montoya publicly apologized to Fewer on behalf of the organization during a discussion over a new contract for the City's police officers at a Board meeting in late 2020.


Personal life

She and her husband, former San Francisco police officer John Fewer, raised their three children in the Richmond district, where she has lived for over 50 years.


Selected awards and recognition

* Champion of Justice award,
Chinese for Affirmative Action Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) is a San Francisco-based advocacy organization. Founded in 1969, its initial goals were equality of access to employment and the creation of job opportunities for Chinese Americans. The group broadened its missio ...
* Parent Leadership award, Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network * Community Leadership award, Coleman Advocates * Community Ally award, Harvey Milk Democratic Club


See also

*
History of Chinese Americans in San Francisco As of 2012, 21.4% of the population in San Francisco was of Chinese descent, and there were at least 150,000 Chinese American residents. The Chinese are the largest Asian American subgroup in San Francisco.Fagan, Kevin.Asian population swells in B ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fewer, Sandra Lee 21st-century American politicians American women of Chinese descent in politics Living people San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Asian-American city council members Women city councillors in California 21st-century American women politicians California politicians of Chinese descent 1957 births School board members in California