Ross Mirkarimi
Encyclopedia
Ross Mirkarimi is a member of the Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...

 of San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, a marijuana legalization advocate, and co-founder of the Green Party of California
Green Party of California
The Green Party of California is the California affiliate of the Green Party. The party is a ballot-qualified in California, first established as such in 1991, using the petition method of gaining state recognition....

. He was elected in 2004 to represent District 5. Mirkarimi is a progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

.

Although Mirkarimi helped establish the Green Party and was a manager of its 2000 presidential candidate, Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

, he left the Green Party in March 2010 to become a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

.

Mirkarimi is scheduled to be termed out
Term limits in the United States
Term limits in the United States apply to many offices at both the federal and state level, and date back to the American Revolution.-Pre-constitution:...

 as supervisor in 2012. He ran for Sheriff of San Francisco
San Francisco Sheriff's Department
The San Francisco Sheriff's Department is the sheriff's department for the City and County of San Francisco. The department has 850 deputized personnel, and support staff....

 County in the Nov., 2011 election and won..

He served on the California Coastal Commission
California Coastal Commission
The California Coastal Commission is a state agency in the U.S. state of California with quasi-judicial regulatory oversight over land use and public access in the California coastal zone....

 from 2009 to 2011. On 4-20-06
420 (cannabis culture)
420, 4:20 or 4/20 refers to consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture. The notable day for these is April 20.- Origins of terms :...

, Mirkarimi was awarded the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' (NORML) Rufus King award, given annually for leadership in the reform of marijuana laws.

Biography

Ross Mirkarimi was born in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in 1961 to an Iranian father, Hamid Mirkarimi, and a Jewish Russian-American mother, Nancy Kolman. He grew up in Jamestown, Rhode Island
Jamestown, Rhode Island
Jamestown is a town located in Newport County, Rhode Island, in the United States. The population was 5,405 at the 2010 census. Jamestown is situated almost entirely on Conanicut Island, the second largest island in Narragansett Bay.-History:...

, where he graduated from the Catholic, all-male Bishop Hendricken High School
Bishop Hendricken High School
Bishop Thomas Francis Hendricken High School is a Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high school located in Warwick, Rhode Island, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence....

 in 1979. "I totally credit my childhood in Jamestown for my green views," Mirkarimi said. "I'll never forget living near Fort Getty
Fort Getty
Fort Getty is a town park in Jamestown, Rhode Island on Conanicut Island in Narragansett Bay.-History:Fort Getty was used as a U.S. Military fort during World War I and World War II. The State of Rhode Island later received the property and opened it as a state park.-Visiting today:Dutch Island...

 and exploring the unspoiled island with my dog Oscar when I was a boy."

He has a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 from St. Louis University, a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in international economics and affairs from Golden Gate University
Golden Gate University
Golden Gate University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in the South of Market district, immediately south of the Financial District of downtown San Francisco, California...

, and a Master of Science degree in environmental science
Environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...

 from the University of San Francisco
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...

. He has lived in San Francisco since 1984.

Mirkarimi is a graduate of the San Francisco Police Academy, where he was the president of his class. Before his election to office, he served in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office investigating white collar crime.

On April 21, 2009, Ross Mirkarimi became a father, as Eliana Lopez, a Venezuelan telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...

 star whom he met at an environmental conference in Brazil, gave birth to his son, Theo Aureliano Mirkarimi.

Founding of California Green Party

Mirkarimi co-founded California's Green Party in 1990, and coordinated Ralph Nader's
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

 2000 presidential campaign in California. He also managed local campaigns in San Francisco, including the 2001 campaign for public power and the March 2002 campaign to elect Harry Britt
Harry Britt
Harry Britt is a political activist and former Supervisor for San Francisco, California. Britt was involved during the late 1960s in the civil rights movement when he was a Methodist minister in Chicago...

 to the State Assembly. He was a press spokesperson and campaign aide in the 2003 campaign to elect Matt Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez
Matthew Edward Gonzalez is an American politician, lawyer, and activist prominent in San Francisco politics. He currently serves as chief attorney in the San Francisco Public Defender's office....

 mayor of San Francisco. Mirkarimi supported Democrat Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 in the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

.

Mirkarimi supported Green Party candidate Krissy Keefer over Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...

 in the 2006 congressional election. "Why," he asked in regard to supporting Pelosi, "do we decide to support the lesser of two evils or the evil of two lessers...the level of mediocrity being dished out by the Republicans and Democrats?"

Campaign for Sheriff

In May 2011, scheduled to be termed out
Term limits in the United States
Term limits in the United States apply to many offices at both the federal and state level, and date back to the American Revolution.-Pre-constitution:...

 as supervisor, Mirkarimi announced that he is running for Sheriff of San Francisco
San Francisco Sheriff's Department
The San Francisco Sheriff's Department is the sheriff's department for the City and County of San Francisco. The department has 850 deputized personnel, and support staff....

 in the November 2011 election.

Mirkarimi did not receive the endorsement of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff's Association, the union representing sheriffs. In an endorsement election of members, Capt. Paul Miyamoto received 353 votes to Mirkarimi's 2 votes. "This was a very large turnout for us," said Don Wilson, president of the association. "Miyamoto is a very popular guy in our department. We want one of our own to be sheriff. We want someone with experience."

In an interview with the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), Mirkarimi said about his candidacy:
The challenges of our campaign are that I am running citywide. I have opposition, but with my name recognition as an elected official, it’s one of the first times that I’m seen as an automatic frontrunner, instead of the underdog posture that I'm more used to from my previous runs. The election is in November 2011, and it will be at the same time as the mayor and district attorney. Competing for resources and attention is always an inherent challenge with other high profile races.


Mirkarimi has made combatting recidivism
Recidivism
Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior...

 a centerpiece of his campaign:
We have to realize that what happens in the jail system directly affects public safety throughout all of San Francisco neighborhoods. That entwinement can’t really be denied anymore, and the money we throw at the Police Department to just re-arrest the same people really sort of is counter-intuitive without asking the obvious question, “What can we do so that when somebody comes out they will not repeat their offense?” And there are tested programs already existing in the Sheriff’s Department, ones that we could I think consider adopting and ones that deserve institutional support because most of the programs in the Sheriff’s Department aren’t general-fund-funded, they’re grant-funded, and so they live and die by the vulnerability of those grants. That says San Francisco is not frontburnering the importance of what it means to stand towards the development and accountability of those programs, and that needs to change. I’ll change it.”

Support of the San Francisco 8

In 2008, Mirkarimi supported a controversial resolution by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors asking the state to drop charges against the San Francisco 8
San Francisco 8
In January 2007, eight former Black Panthers were arrested for their alleged involvement in the 1971 murder of Sgt. John V. Young at Ingleside Police station, a thirty-six year old unsolved crime....

, eight former Black Panthers
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....

 arrested for their involvement in the 1971 murder of Sgt. John V. Young at San Francisco's Ingleside Police station. The San Francisco Chronicle opined, “A police officer slain in the line of duty is a disgrace that needs an answer. Instead, the shotgun slaying of Sgt. John Young is getting the political treatment from four San Francisco supervisors more interested in rhetoric than healing justice.”

Support for Josh Wolf

At a solidarity fundraiser for Josh Wolf
Josh Wolf
Josh Wolf is a journalist and video blogger.Josh Wolf is also the name of:* Josh Wolf , comic appearing on season 4 of Last Comic Standing...

, a video journalist imprisoned for refusing to give a Federal Grand Jury his tape of an anarchist demonstration during which a San Francisco city policeman received a fractured skull, Mirkarimi said:
The issue here is certainly about the illegal incarceration of Josh Wolf and violating his protections as a member of the free press. But more importantly, we are witnessing the unraveling of the very fabric that made this country great. Maybe it's time for a new revolution?

Police foot patrols

Mirkarimi sponsored legislation to require police foot patrols in high-crime neighborhoods. The Board of Supervisors approved this measure, but Mayor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...

, citing objections by Police Chief Heather Fong
Heather Fong
Heather Jeanne Fong is the former chief of police for San Francisco, California, United States. Her ancestral roots are in Ho Chung village, Chung Shan County , Guangdong Province, China. She is the first woman to lead the San Francisco Police Department, and the first Asian American woman to...

, vetoed it. However, by a 9-2 vote, the Board overrode the veto; this was the first time that the Board of Supervisors had overridden a Newsom veto. As of 2010, the policy was not implemented. New San Francisco Police Chief George Gascón
George Gascón
George Gascón is the District Attorney of San Francisco. Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed him to that post on January 9, 2011, to succeed Kamala Harris, who had been elected California Attorney General in November 2010....

 called foot patrols "laughable" and "simplistic." In 2010, San Francisco voters rejected Measure M, sponsored by Mirkarimi, which would have required the San Francisco Police Department to maintain a foot patrol presence from all its stations. Voters rejected the measure 54 to 46 percent.

Civic and community organizations

Mirkarimi has been involved in these civic and community service activities: Director for SF Nuclear Freeze Zone Coalition; union negotiator for DAI Association union; member of the IFPTE
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers , AFL-CIO & CLC, is a diverse labor union representing more than 80,000 women and men in professional, technical, administrative and associated occupations in the United States and Canada. Their members are employed by federal,...

 Local 2; member of the Harvey Milk Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Democratic Club; member of the Iranian-American Chamber of Commerce; environmental analyst for the Harvard Study Team (Iraq) Bayview Hunters Point, California Base Closures; and member of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...

.

Supervisor

As Supervisor, Mirkarimi has sponsored some 40 pieces of legislation in a wide range of areas, including medicinal marijuana, crime, making streets safer for pedestrians, improving efficiency of city departments, and the environment.

Advocacy of marijuana legalization

In April 2009, Mirkarimi proposed legislation that would make San Francisco the first city in the nation to sell and distribute marijuana. "We're spending much more money keeping marijuana underground, trying to hide a fact that is occurring all around us," he said. "Now is the time to take responsibility for something we've deflected to others and to test our ability to take responsibility."

On April 20, 2006 (4-20)
420 (cannabis culture)
420, 4:20 or 4/20 refers to consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture. The notable day for these is April 20.- Origins of terms :...

, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (United States)
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is an American non-profit organization based in Washington, DC whose aim is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the legalization of non-medical marijuana in the United States so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is...

 honored Mirkarimi with its Rufus King
Rufus King
Rufus King was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

 Award for outstanding leadership in the reform of marijuana laws. In a speech accepting the award, Mirkarimi said:

That particular logic (of being in favor of medicinal marijuana but not wanting dispensaries in the neighborhood in which you live), as complex as it is, was emblematic of what certainly concerned me, that we continue to drive back in the shadows the very idea of what we're all congregated here for, and that is to mainstream the issue so that marijuana should not be criminalized and medical cannabis
Medical cannabis
Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...

 should not be criminalized and that we should do everything we can to build that kind of resiliency, to shore up even in the face of adversity, that while there's any attempt at pushback or blowback
Blowback
Blowback may refer to one of the following:*Blowback *Blowback *Blowback , vacuum effect created in the barrel of a firearm when it is discharged...

 from our efforts to try to proliferate Prop 215
California Proposition 215 (1996)
Proposition 215, or the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, is a California law concerning the use of medical cannabis. It was enacted, on November 5, 1996, by means of the initiative process, and passed with 5,382,915 votes in favor and 4,301,960 against.The proposition was a state-wide voter...

 states throughout all fifty states of the United States, that we should not shrink at all with that ever particular kind of adversity once again.

Tobacco smoking ban on golf courses

Mirkarimi supported a measure by Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier to ban smoking on city parks. Mirkarimi helped expand the ban to bus shelters to the city's public golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 courses. Not extending the law to golf courses, Mirkarimi declared, "has this undertone of elitism."

Reentry Council

On September 9, 2008, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed Mirkarimi's legislation creating a Reentry Council to coordinate the disparate and disconnected City programs that help ex-offenders transition from incarceration back into society. Mirkarimi in collaboration with Public Defender Jeff Adachi
Jeff Adachi
Jeff Adachi is the elected Public Defender of San Francisco, pension reform advocate, and a former candidate for Mayor of San Francisco.-Early life and education:...

, District Attorney Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris is an American attorney. She is the 32nd and current Attorney General of California following the 2010 California state elections. Harris has worked as an author and a politician and has served as District Attorney of San Francisco since 2004...

, and Sheriff Michael Hennessey
Michael Hennessey
Michael Hennessey is the longest serving Sheriff in the history of San Francisco and is currently the longest tenured Sheriff in the State of California. Hennessey was elected in a run-off election in December of 1979 and has been reelected in seven subsequent elections...

 crafted this legislation to increase the effectiveness of City-wide efforts to reduce recidivism and violence, and promote safe and successful reentry into society for adults released from jails and prisons.

Environmental issues

In March 2007, Mirkarimi introduced legislation that prohibits large supermarkets and drugstores from providing customers with non-biodegradable plastic bags, making San Francisco the first city to regulate such bags. Since then other cities around the country and in Europe have take up similar bans, and there is a move by the California legislature to do the same. Mirkarimi said, "Instead of waiting for the federal government to do something about this country's oil dependence, environmental degradation or contribution to global warming, local governments can step up and do their part. The plastic bag ban is one small part of that." Many supermarkets opposed such legislation. The bill passed 10-1 and became an ordinance. The ban has been criticized as "cosmetic" by the SF Weekly, which asserted that the ban has led to an increase in the use of paper bags, a practice they claim is worse for the environment.

In June 2008, Mirkarimi sponsored a one-year pilot program of a solar rebate program that provides $1.5 million to nonprofit organizations and lower income residents for the installation of solar voltaic power on rooftops; the measure received initial approval from the Board of Supervisors. In July, Mirkarimi was named among several supervisors who, along with the mayor and various organizations, opposed a move to build fossil-fuel power plants in the low-income southeastern part of San Francisco.

Ross Mirkarimi was the chief sponsor of a measure to require most employers to give pre-tax commuter checks to employees, with the intention of getting workers out of commuting via private car and into using public transportation; the measure is unlike many others involving regulation of businesses in that it was not opposed by the Chamber of Commerce.

Street name changes

In February 2008, Mirkarimi announced his support for changing the name of a portion of Eddy Street to Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...

 Way. Supporters hope that by renaming a street in honor of a well-known and influential figure of African descent, San Francisco's African-American residents will choose to stay in the city despite increases in the cost of living.

Reparations bill

Mirkarimi also authored a piece of reparations bill, which would give descendants of those displaced by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency from the Western Addition priority in obtaining affordable housing. During the 1960s the city tore down much of the historic Fillmore district, most of whose resident's were permanently removed. Two-thirds of those displaced were African American.

External links

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