Eric Mar - Political Career

Political Career

In 1998, Mar was elected to the San Francisco County & Central Committee of the Democratic Party.

Eric has lived in the Richmond District for over 22 years with his wife Sandra Chin-Mar, a public school teacher. Their daughter Jade Mar is a 3rd grader at McCoppin Elementary School in the Richmond District. As a longtime community leader, Eric has led neighborhood and citywide efforts to preserve and expand affordable housing, to increase funding for parks and libraries, to improve services for youth and seniors, and to protect locally owned neighborhood businesses from unfair competition from big corporations like Starbucks.

After his house burned down in April, 2000, Mar was ineligible to run for Supervisor as he had planned. Instead, he ran for the Board of Education, placing second. As a Commissioner for the Board of Education he

• Co-authored with Tom Ammiano and led the campaign to pass Proposition H in 2004 which spends up to $60 million per year in funding to for school programs;
• Addressed fiscal corruption and mismanagement in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD);
• Created the Parent Advisory Council to the SFUSD, which strengthened parent, student and community involvement in SFUSD policy-making;
• Authored legislation on closing the achievement gap and on fostering healthier and safer schools;
• Led to the creation of a model "green building" facility at Argonne Child Development Center in the Richmond District;
• Served on the Select Committee of the Board of Supervisors and Board of Education, which coordinates policy-making between city government and the school district.

In 2008 Mar ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for District One and won the election, defeating planning commissioner Sue Lee in November.Mar took office on January 8, 2009.