User:BenGurewitz/sandbox

Overview

Myrna Melgar is an American Elected Official in San Francisco, California. She serves as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 7. District 7 includes West Portal, Westwood Park, Forest Hill, Parkmerced, Golden Gate Heights, Inner Sunset, St. Francis Woods, Miraloma, and Monterey Heights. Myrna Melgar is an urban planner, economic development, and housing policy expert, and has served in City government in several different capacities.

Early life and Education

Myrna’s family immigrated to San Francisco from El Salvador when she was a child during the 1980s, fleeing that country’s civil war. Her father was an engineer, her mother was a communist militant. As for so many others before and since San Francisco provided Myrna’s family with refuge and economic opportunity. Myrna is fluent in English, Spanish and French, and speaks Swedish proficiently.

She attended San Francisco State University and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Excelsior College. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning with a concentration in housing development from Columbia University.

Career Myrna Melgar was elected District 7 Supervisor in November 2020. As Supervisor, she represents District 7’s diverse communities, including 40 distinct neighborhoods, among them West Portal, Westwood Park, Forest Hill, Parkmerced, Golden Gate Heights, Inner Sunset, St. Francis Woods, Miraloma, and Monterey Heights.

Myrna formerly worked as the Executive Director of the Jamestown Community Center, one of the city’s most respected youth development organizations. Prior to that, she was the Deputy Director of the Mission Economic Development Agency, Director of Homeownership Programs at the Mayor’s Office of Housing during the Newsom Administration, and served as President of the City Planning Commission and Vice President of the Building Inspection Commission.

Her legislative priorities include reducing homelessness; increasing the availability of affordable housing and homeownership opportunities for San Franciscans; improving rent control protections for tenants; supporting small businesses, supporting the rights of workers, improving our public transportation infrastructure, reducing our city’s carbon footprint and, expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged San Francisco youth and families. Myrna’s priorities also include improving the Westside’s access to senior services, pedestrian, bicycle, and transportation improvements throughout District 7, and supporting the safety and resilience of neighborhoods and commercial corridors.

Personal life

Myrna, her husband Sean Donahue, and three daughters have made their home in Ingleside Terraces for the past decade. Donahue is a public interest lawyer focused on climate change and Clean Air Act litigation.