September 25 2002

Hall Monitor

Bechtel Redux? The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, has studied the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's new management contract for the massive overhaul of the 150-mile drinking-water pipeline that serves the city and the Bay Area. The union reps have concluded that the new contract is not much of an improvement over the previous, heavily criticized $45 million management deal with Bechtel Infrastructure Corp., which was terminated by the Board of Supervisors earlier this year.

At the board's Sept. 25 Finance Committee meeting, the union will ask Sups. Chris Daly, Mark Leno, and Aaron Peskin to scale back the new contract. In short, Local 21 says that it is too broad to ensure costs won't escalate and that much of the work assigned to the contractor could be performed more cheaply by PUC staff and workers from other city departments. "We need to see that the contract is cut back so that it actually is of assistance to the city rather than an overly expensive program that does not speak to our real needs," Local 21 director David Novogrodsky said. (Savannah Blackwell)

Newsom moves: Supervisor and mayoral hopeful Gavin Newsom wants to put the brakes on supes who place last-minute measures on ballots. At the board's Sept. 17 meeting he submitted legislation that, if passed, would require supes to hold at least one public hearing before any initiative could go before voters. He also said the full board should vote on any such proposal. If a proposal went down, it could still make it to the ballot if four supes chose to put it before voters, which jibes with current law.

Though Newsom told the San Francisco Examiner that the November 2000 battle between the pro-growth and slow-growth Propositions K and L spurred his decision, at least one current measure Newsom doesn't like got to the voters without public hearings: board president Tom Ammiano's Proposition O, which would soften the potentially harsh effects of Newsom's antihomeless measure, Proposition N. (Blackwell)

TIC update: In response to a decision by Superior Court Judge James Robertson, Sup. Jake McGoldrick has retooled a housing law he crafted that the Board of Supervisors passed last year. Robertson ruled that parts of the legislation that would make more rental units available annually for conversion to condominiums were problematic. Robertson had found that the original use of the word "tenant" in the law would have prevented a renter who currently lives in a unit from purchasing it. "We cleared that up," McGoldrick told us.

In addition, the new amendment, introduced in late August, would allow for 200 additional units to be made available for conversion to low-income housing. It would also allow buildings with two to six units to be converted to condos if all of the tenants agree to the change. (Blackwell)

Crying Wolff: Thanks to cuts to the city's Recreation and Park Department budget, residents across San Francisco are noticing that conditions in their local parks are deteriorating. Activists have written letters to the mayor and other officials about gopher holes and ailing trees in Golden Gate Park (see Hall Monitor, 9/11/02). And a nonprofit called the Neighborhood Parks Council has equipped park users with handheld computers and digital cameras so they can report problems. The program is funded with out-of-state grant money, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle Sept. 18.

And it appears all the complaining may be working. After Haight-Ashbury resident Jim Wolff reported that cars and trucks are damaging the rolling lawns of Golden Gate Park's Panhandle by creating "a great deal of muddy ruts near the paths," Mike Sallaberry, an assistant transportation engineer with the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic, responded that the city had already started a project to widen one of the Panhandle's pathways, located on the northern portion. "As part of the improvements, care was taken to note where the grass was being damaged by turning motor vehicles so that the path intersections could be widened accordingly." (Blackwell)

Holier than thou: Sup. Gavin Newsom's Care Not Cash campaign relies on the notion that it's immoral to give homeless people money. By slashing their General Assistance checks from a maximum of $395 to $59, the logic goes, you can save them from the evil temptation of drugs and alcohol.

But Newsom isn't the only one promoting the high road when it comes to homelessness. Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness with Homeless People told us she's mobilizing the spiritual community to stop Proposition N. "Sup. Newsom and his minions have the power and wealth on their side," she said. "It doesn't mean that they have right on their side."

Galvin's approach seems to be working. On Sept. 19 board members of St. Anthony's Foundation, a 52-year-old organization that serves hundreds of homeless people each day, voted unanimously to oppose Care Not Cash. "After two intensive meetings with Sup. Newsom, we believe ... the legislation would cause our guests and clients to suffer more, not less," they wrote in a summary of their position.