To Brian Wiedenmeier and the board:

I, along with other members of the San Francisco cycling community are worried that the recent endorsements for this next election have been sullied by non-bike related personal opinions.

The role of SF Bike endorsements is to assist bike-aligned voters in knowing which candidates align with the coalition’s mission of promoting the bicycle as a way of every day transportation. As a trained bike ambassador who volunteers at many events to sign up members, I need to be able to stand behind these endorsements and promote them to less politically aware cyclists.

As is, I cannot stand behind the bike coalition this election season.

The D6 endorsements are especially concerning to me as a D6 resident. Specifically the omission of Sonja Trauss, whom bikes Folsom and Howard St in SoMA, is concerning. She is one of the few candidates city wide to be openly favorable to congestion pricing and is very interested in seeing our streets become safer for all. I am concerned that certain members of the board chose to not endorse her due to her position on housing and not due to anything related to the coalition’s mission.

I kindly request that the coalition publicize the results of member endorsement surveys along with justification from the board anytime endorsement decisions are made. This will add transparency to the process so that we can ensure the coalition remains an effective member driven organization.