Watching City Hall #356, (3-28-05)
Odds & ins and odd ends
Anyone but me notice that since the start of Bush’s 2nd term and the beginning of the second year of the ‘Newsom era’, the forces of gentrification and privatization have kicked into high gear? Well, you should, cause if you’re not rich, your ass is in serious jeopardy of getting run out of town. Let’s run over the rejuvenated monsters that have reappeared beneath your balconies. That are hiding in the back seats of your cars. And, are standing across from your house with a clipboard writing down numbers.
“New hope for S.F. public housing”
(front page in Chronicle)
The goal is to drive all of the poor people out of San Francisco. … I mean, face it, they are bad for property values. They drive up the costs of free health and other social services astronomically and the sons-a-bitches are prone to crime.
As usual, the Chronicle, has the story backwards and as usual, they know it very well. In a story that is heavy on pictures (I love that and applaud their attempts but Pat Murphy & his digitalized sanfranciscosentinel.com kicks their ass) … story heavy on pictures, noted that wealthy developers in San Francisco had decided that if the federal government was not going to continue to subsidize the SF Disapora, they’d go ahead and do it themselves.
The old ‘Hope’ project, like pretty much every real estate venture in this town, was all about tossing poor and diseased people off valuable land and replacing them with the upwardly mobile. Willie Brown worked with a succession of HUD flunkies to clear a half dozen or more public housing projects and rebuild them with inferior structures which have then been filled 90% with hacks and flacks chosen from rigged lists. Less than 10% of original occupants of Hope projects ever made it back to the new units they were promised. And, best yet, the feds paid for it. Don’t believe the ‘Residents who moved back’ numbers in the Chronicle piece. They are, simply put … lies. You can bet your ass that the return rate of original tenants to ‘Hunters View’ will be more like that of the return rate to ‘North Beach Place’ … that is, nearly zero.
Bush’s people figured this out a couple of years ago. “Pay to throw your own trash out of town!” That’s basically what the Republicans have said and you really can’t blame them. They can read numbers with the best of Warren Hellman’s crunchers and while they’re clearly simpatico, they have other use for federal dollars.
Former Mayor Brown tried to tie up something like 15 or 16 of these federal housing complexes in ‘boiler plate’ contracts with developers like the oft-incorporated & unincorporated & reincorporated John Stewart and Mercy Housing and Bridge and Lennar and on and on before he got out of office. Matt Gonzalez blocked him. Today’s piece in the Chronicle repeats the Brown argument which, with Gonzo gone, will probably fly. That is, ‘let the for profit and pseudo-for profits take over public housing. Privatize. Synthesize. Monopolize. The Hearst’s Chronicle, ever the voice of the local plutocrats feeds the story to the public … with bad data.
Now, Ilene Lelchuk is a fine writer but there was no way that her editors were going to let her tell the entire truth. Such as, mentioning the actual rate of return of the original tenants. … No, that would make it all so plain that this was not a rebuild on behalf of the residents. It is, and has always been, a tool for gentrification.
So, Newsom’s people are back with the ‘Hope’ plan and it isn’t the only ‘Hope’ plan for gentrification that’s making a comeback. Y’all remember Tony Hall?
Yeah, Gavin gave Tony a fat job on Treasure Island to get him off of the Board of Supervisors. Well, Tony used to be the leading voice on the Board for pretty much every effort to squeeze the poor and empower the rich. Every move to weaken rent control and condo-out rent controlled apartments. In fact, Tony with his limited resources (he ain’t in the back pocket of any billionaires) … Tony managed to get a measure on the ballot a couple of years ago that would have meant the end of rent controlled housing in San Francisco. It’s name? Try ‘Hope”. Yeah, something like, ‘home ownership for tenants’ Tony wanted it to read on the ballot. It went on the ballot as ‘condo-conversion’ which is what it was.
Of course, it was nothing like that. It was an attempt to toss tenants out of rent controlled housing which could then be condo’d and sold to the highest bidder. … Wellll, it’s baaaackk!
Yeah, the Gavin forces have announced they’ll be going to the ballot with an ‘improved’ measure that will require 50% of tenants from a rent controlled apartment building to express an interest in purchasing their units in order for the entire structure to be turned into a condo site. Mind, you, Gavin’s people WILL go door-to-door in apartment buildings if this piece of shit passes, bribing tenants to sign. The law doesn’t say the units have to be sold to the people signing. Shit, the poorer ones will sign away their children for a six pack of Bud. It just requires they sign.
So, what we got here? We have another 15 or 16 housing complexes set for tear down and reconstitution with mostly market rate units and a ballot measure aimed at the private stock of rent controlled housing. Are you starting to see a pattern here, my fellow wonkers?
Toss in a few other items that have been cooking on the tv in front of me while I smoke good medicinal weed (see next item) and drink bad bourbon. … The new Trans Bay Terminal project is asking to set the price of their ‘affordable’ housing at 120% of local standard. That will mean that the ‘poor’ people living around that project (up to 15,000 of them) will make up to 100 grand a year. What a piece of shit that project is. It’s an ill-conceived sink hole for a couple of billion in public funds. A fucking kid playing in the dirt in his back yard could have come up with a better plan.
Honest. For instance, to get from the present terminal site to downtown, the planners could have drilled right through the solid rock of Rincon Hill which would have been a piece of cake and required almost no purchase of right-of-ways from the likes of this asshole, Meyers guy … lets not get into that cause there are lots of people like this guy waiting to sue the City over eminent domain issues regarding the way downtown.
City could have chosen the intelligent route through the hill. Instead, they’ve decided to build their own piece of solid rock by pouring a literal mountain of concrete into a hole, let it settle, then, drill through it … you getting an idea as to why this thing is expensive?
And, on top of this man made boulder, the City proposed building an all glass, 5 story, wedding cake looking building that I tabbed ‘the crystal palace’. I once challenged Willie’s mistress, (and oddly, Transbay Project Executive Director – no way the two things can be related, right?) … challenged Maria Ayerdi to stand across from City Hall in Joe Alioto Plaza … with Willie Brown. To stand there under a small scale mock-up of the glass building proposed. Have Tony Irons set the model on springs like they say he did City Hall (gots my doubts) … and shake the son of a bitch!
Now, they don’t talk about a glass building anymore. Ayerdi (who is aging badly, which ain’t cool for someone who’s made an entire career of) … Ayerdi no longer knows shit. She passes questions off to the likes of Emilio Cruz (anyone of you out there remember Emilio?) … the peripatetic son-in-law of John Burton who has done everything from play bus driver (actually headed Muni under Willie) to guider of our childrens’ education (the man was the head of the SFUSD school board, for God’s sake!). … Hack after hack after hack. Mistress and concubine and stud after mistress and concubine and stud. Wondering when you get screwed? No problem. You get screwed every step of the way.
Let’s talk about pot
Do you think it would be OK if you had to drive 3 miles across town to get a refill of the medication that keeps you from turning into a vampire or a werewolf when da lites go down in the City? I mean, it’s not only important to you that you have your meds, it’s important to your neighbors too so that your screams of pain don’t interrupt their Vioxin/Viagra/Venusian no-holds-barred fuckathon they got going out of their totally Bush-legal medicine cabinet next door?
Sorry girls, but what we have here is what we used to call in the old neighborhood, a ‘nut check’. As in, do you have any? There is presently a concerted effort involving the mayor and the cops and the feds and the corporate media and the major pot club owners and their lobbyist to restrict the availability of medicinal marijuana in San Francisco. Bottom line is, should the City allow the continued proliferation of pot clubs which is producing both lower prices and a higher level of neighborhood complaints?
“If your erection lasts more than 4 hours …”
Look at the shit that the Food and Drug Administration allows to be sold out of every drug store in San Francisco. Just watch the tv ads. Listen to the dangers they KNOW are associated with drugs the federal government endorses. I mean, c’mon, are you willing to die to get a good stiff woody? Huh? The feds will endorse crap whose side effects range from blindness to death and whose benefits are questionable but will not legalize pot?
That’s why we did it ourselves
And, we aren’t alone here. States, counties, and cities across the land and around the world have decriminalized pot and no one has died from its effects yet. Nope. Being mellow and relaxed doesn’t kill. Jurisdictions around the globe figured this out long ago. So, why does government anywhere oppose legalization?
It would cut into the profits of drug and liquor companies. And, the profits of criminals ranging from independent street pushers, to organized crime families. And, these people pay millions of dollars annually into the coffers of politicians. It is that simple.
Simple solutions?
You shouldn’t have to go to UN Plaza to get a joint if you’re stressed and need to unwind. You shouldn’t have to go to the Haight (worst drug rip-off site on earth) to buy a bag of weed. The City should go in three directions at once on the question of weed.
Limit of 50 clubs
People, the appeal of pot rivals the appeal of booze and the effects are far less deleterious. Don’t cut the number of clubs but limit them to 50 City-wide and limit any one owner or group of owners from controlling any more than 2 clubs. Pay attention to the numbers!! There are over 7,000 card carriers now (I’m one) and the number is growing. This is because the program has been a huge success. This increase in legal cards reflects simple word-of-mouth advertising. I know, for instance, that I personally, either bought pot on the street or through an established ‘dealer’ for decades. Times have changed.
The clubs have pretty much put the dealers out of business and this is good for everyone. Through the years, purely pot selling dealers were great. The best became legendary. Year after year, they delivered quality product to your door, sat and smoked with you. Or, you went to their place. It was a social scene in which I’ve met some of my best friends. … But, it was expensive and you could always go to jail for, essentially, challenging the drug and liquor lobby.
There will be 15,000 card holders within the next 24 months in San Francisco if present rates hold. Viagra will lose some sales around here. As will a variety of anti-depressants freely prescribed by physicians fueled by tv advertising. We’ll be healthier, but the drug companies will lose money. Enter law enforcement.
We got trouble with the local cops
We got trouble with the cops. They just elected Gary Delagnes, a narc as the head of the Police Officers Association. That means that the majority of cops in San Francisco support this right-wing nut’s agenda and that is a problem. Face it, the POA runs the police department. While I salute Chief Heather Fong for her attempts at making the lard assed local POA veterans to walk a beat one hour a day. And, to ride a bus in their precinct once a shift. They don’t do it Heather. They mock you and your rules. While I’m sorry for you, you make plenty of money for being ignored and we get harassed and arrested. You want a suggestion?
Dump your driver and drive and walk your City incognito. Just a little Asian woman checking things out. You’ll find the officers don’t ride the buses. They don’t walk their beats. They lay on their fat asses in patrol cars or load up with steroids and attack anyone who gets in their way. Ride around with Lt. Marty Halloran for a couple of shifts. Go over his busts for the last couple of years. He’s totally out of touch with the City as is most of the force. The more assholes like this can demonize pot, the more legitimacy they have for their illegal activities of the past years. Yeah, strange, huh? It’s against public policy for the cops to harass pot sales and growth and every indication from inside the zone is that they’re seizing legal pot cards, threatening patients and even encouraging the fire bombing of growers. This is some bad shit, lady. And, you’re in charge. Like I said, it’s a ‘nut check’ for you. Don’t start with the pot club issue though. Simply start by showing up at individual precincts for roll call. Unannounced. Tell them you want to walk the beat with officers who have been following your orders and have them introduce you to people they’ve met. Then, … walk across the street to the liquor store and ask them if they’ve ever met their ‘beat’ officer. They’re ignoring you, Heather. These people do not represent you or the majority of San Franciscans. Nope. They represent the Republican right and we pay them to push that agenda in our town. They might get the Chronicle to write that there are ‘hundreds’ of them walking the beat but it’s a lie. There are dozens at best and the pressure from the senior slobs in precincts has those few back in their cars after minute in a shift. It’s the old ‘cops on the bus’ thing that’s still on the books. Your cops still riding buses a part of every shift? Dream on. Back to pot clubs.
Close it out. 50 clubs for starts. No more than 2 to any one owner. Long range goal of putting pot on the shelf in drug stores. Shorter range of making pot sales licenses available as attachment to liquor licenses on Nob Hill and in North Beach and in the Tenderloin. Tax the shit like regular liquor revenues. And, get your lawyers ready for battle with Bush.
Other matters
Arlene Ackerman has even less scruples than Warren Hellman and that’s saying a lot. Recent events have shown that she’s busy extorting more money from SFSOS to stay in town and cover for their takeover of the school district and its myriad of sole-source contracts.
Yeah, Arlene can simply say: “I don’t get along with that Chinese boy, Mar.” and collect $350,000 for leaving whenever she wants. A true double-cross of Hellman who both chose and hired her. Shit, it would leave Beebe Bros. Construction (ask Donald Fisher about them and L.A.) with no guaranteed sole source contracts. We’re talking several hundred million here, folks. Yeah, first she accepts SFSOS placing their own flunkies at the top and middle of the contract flow (Chief Financial Officer, Chief Facilities Officer) … their salaries paid for by the very people who are going to be going after contracts from them (through straw parties) … they got it all set up and she threatens to split.
Look for Ackerman to get a hefty bonus (I’m guessing in the neighborhood of half a million) to stay around to the end of her contract and simply stay out of the way. No way does SFSOS want a school board that is damned near independent from looking at construction contracts too closely. Message to Norman Yee. Expect lots of invitations and honorariums to speak at various functions … and stuff like that … paid for by Hellman and Fisher over the next couple of years. Plus, you’ll be surprised to learn that Donald’s money can make him appear even more Chinese than you. Just ask Eddie Chin. … An aside to this. Or, Doug Chan. I warned Gonzalez a couple of years ago when he appointed Chan to the Police Commission. “He is duplicitous.” Said my source. They were right. Here’s Chan, standing up with the heads of SFSOS on the tube last week calling the present school board majority racist. What a prick. Coincidentally, I ran into the bastard downtown on the sidewalk as he was on his way to do the SFSOS news conference. I was with Matt Gonzalez and Peter Camejo and Sue Betts, just leaving a Commonwealth Club interview of the Greens. Chan kept bowing and kissing Gonzo’s ass and looking nervous as hell. I noticed it but it was only later when I saw him standing up with the SFSOS people that I realized that he realized that everyone else would realize that I was right when I said he couldn’t be trusted. He’s no better than Amos Brown, who stood next to him and sold out the black kids while Chan sold out the Chinese in favor of downtown builders.
Way too much
I wanted to write about press passes but you’ve heard enough. I gotta write more but I’m having too much fun and that always takes precedence. Welcome to a number of new readers whom I promised to add to my address list. I don’t know how you found my site and I do not encourage new readers. Take heed that once I send you a column, you are automatically put on any number of local, state and federal watch lists. Unless you don’t give a shit, dial out and buy the Chronicle. Since they closed their newsstands, they’re more efficient. What did Brando say? … “I’m only trouble, baby.”
“Now Puff, the magic draaagggon, lived by the sea …”
