Watching City Hall #360 (3-10-05)
Grading your local government
(and other stuff by Rachel Falmouth
Mayor Gavin Newsom
The guy’s fucking wheels are coming off. His actions are as scattered as a mad woman’s shit. First, he travels all over the world receiving awards from gays. Then, personally (according to Phil Matier) lowers the flag over City Hall to honor the biggest gay basher in the world. Pope Homophobe the 1st is just peachy in Gavin’s confused mind. … The foolish flying flag flap fizzles further when you consider. When you consider that this is the same guy who announces that he is also, personally honored around the world as an anti-war protestor but refuses to honor the war dead by lowering the same god damned flag. Folks, this is one confused puppy. Figure this …
While honoring the dead sexist pope one day, Gavin refuses to attend a mass for the soul of this Patron Protector of Pedophile Priests a day later. Can’t the son of a bitch make up his mind?
Answer is, of course, ‘no’. He did the same shit on the anti-war issue. Refused to attend an anti-war rally of 100,000 people … I mean, for Christ’s sake, Gavin … shit or get off the pot (shit first man; it makes a real mess if you get that one out of order).
Loves me … loves me not
Newsom is consistently inconsistent. Take the matter of homeless assholes like me. About a third of us, he helps. He gathers a caravan of cameras and staff and volunteers and goes out into the streets for huge media events in which it is announced that hundreds are guided toward permanent housing. Unfortunately, while he’s doing this, his staff at 1235 Mission is doing everything in their power to throw people off the welfare rolls and into the streets. The bastard is playing some strange shell and the pea game, only with 3 peas and one shell. Say, HUH!?!
I’m not kidding on any of this shit. Last week his staff tossed one of my best friends off the dole for the second time. She’s the neatest little Polish-American jewelry maker. Just the kind of person you want to stay here. The kind who maintains and extends the City’s reputation as the creative capital of the globe. Unfortunately, my friend has physical problems. While she has worked her entire life, she has had scoliosis since she was a kid and it’s a progressive disease. Gavin’s doctors tell her she’s fine. Oh yeah, great radiologists from Poland to NYC to SF may disagree, but the nazi doctors at the welfare center overrule them all. The doctors there, by the way, always have an armed guard standing right next to them when they give their diagnosis. True. True.
It’s pitiful. The woman found her own free computer training class, finished with honors and got an unpaid volunteer job at the Coalition of Homeless. When she went to 1235 Mission with the good news, they sent out a substitute worker to tell her she was too late and that they were taking away ALL of her benefits. She can apply again in another month or so is she’s still alive.
That’s the way they work. It is no accident. The same duplicity and subterfuge in evidence on the anti-war and gay rights issues are at work here. I’ve been in and out of 1235 Mission (offices of Welfare Central) for 3 years and the staff, guards and methods have grown increasingly hostile. They refuse independent observation of the shelters despite a new City law requiring same. The architect of the system is Trent Rohrer and he ain’t no architect, people. He’s a plagiarist. He simply lifted the Alameda system used to deport 90% of their welfare recipients. Hey, if it worked in Oakland, it can work in San Francisco, right? … Watch and see, they’ll copy Oakland with the new regulations for pot clubs too. … Mark my words, when the Mayor of San Francisco starts copying Oakland, we got trouble.
Let me close Gavin’s report card with a comment. For the few people (I’m one) who are fortunate enough to have the patience, strength, and perseverance to file and re-file and bitch and picket and preach … then, be lucky enough to be chosen for a supportive housing slot, the system works. For the other 70+ percent, it is a cruel hoax. A hypocritical publicity stunt. The solution is so simple, it is ridiculous and Chris Daly told it to Gavin 3 years ago. Fund the program FULLY. But, Newsom’s backers won’t allow this. If they did it, the poor would stay and thrive. Their goal is to force as many of us as possible out of San Francisco. This here land is too valuable for a rich real estate speculator to think any other way. And, these are the people who pay for Newsom’s silk suits. Needless to say, Gavin’s first quarter report card for his second year is a big fat ‘F’. Look for him to start showing up for work in the morning in pajamas and a housecoat.
Board President, Aaron Peskin
Not much worse than a lazy, undisciplined person with a huge ego and a position of power. Peskin has to deal with a Board and building full of the critters. How the hell do you motivate someone like that?
Gently. And, surprisingly, Peskin has proven to be a master of the soft touch. The 3rd District’s man-in-charge is impressing absolutely everyone from every side of the political and social spectrum with his even hand and temper. We already knew he was brilliant and focused with a macro view. Who knew he could juggle rattlesnakes too?
For instance, the Board prez has the supes including short reports back to the public regarding happenings at the various regional and local authorities upon which they serve. SFGTV junkies have been delighted to find individual supes explaining the status of projects & policies upon which the public has bestowed billions in bond money.
Requesting supes to include these little descriptions of activities, discussions and votes on the air, water, bridges, structures & policy entities we share with others in the Bay and state was a true stroke of genius. The fact that most are cooperating is even more surprising.
Ammiano and Maxwell have produced the best presentations with the new format. McGoldrick’s loquacious tendencies are actually a real plus here. The guy has a memory like an elephant and sees historical perspective better than anyone on the Board.
Wonks, I don’t have to tell. The rest of you, set aside an extra half hour or so to dissect the ‘Roll Call for Introductions’ portion of the Board meetings. This is where the new nuggets can be found. From bridge tolls and suicide barriers to air quality, the supes will tell you what the rest of the region feels about our shared concerns and what they are personally doing about it. It saves lots of online time for some of us and the supes who have seized upon the opportunity are establishing their credentials for future runs for state and federal offices.
Someone once said that ‘democracy’ is best defined as ‘mob rule’. Aaron gets his A+ for being thrown into a pen with a thousand rattlers and coming out smiling … wearing a pair of fine snakeskin boots. The boy’s good with a mob.
Mirkarimi hits ground running
Ross Mirkarimi arrived at the Board of Supervisors with a list of accomplishments longer than most of the present lot can ever hope to match.
One of the founders of America’s most progressive political party. Slayer-to-be of the PG&E dragon. Point man, chief adviser or spokesman to the most powerful lefties in town for the last 2 decades.
Showing a consistency completely lacking in Mayor Newsom, once finally elected to office, D5’s new standard bearer seizes upon the issues of protecting the first amendment (press passes), the environment (Peskin had sense to make Ross new head of SF’s Lafco), medicinal marijuana and opposition to corporate oil wars.
And, the dipshits on the right say the boy is off to a lucky start? Kind of like saying Tiger Woods was lucky to win the Masters as soon as he turned pro. He’s got 20 years or more in the game. Ain’t no luck here.
And, I can’t help but mention that Mirkarimi’s significant other is the third hottest lady in town. Only Krissy Keefer and Angela Alioto rate higher on the ‘Total Babe’ scale than Evelyn Nieves. That’s gotta be why the boy comes to work with a grin every morning.
So, a solid ‘A’ for Mirkarimi.
“This is for the ‘bad boy’, Chris Daly”
(Abdalla)
I forget what the hell Abdallah was offering Chris during Public Comment before the Board that day. Suffice to say that Abdallah and Keith Savage (who seldom appears at the Board) are my co-winners of the ‘St. Francis of Assisi Award’ for being the best of the homeless representing the homeless. Praise from either of these guys goes a long way.
Chris Daly doesn’t give a shit what we write. He doesn’t give a shit what Newsom says. He’s not impressed by the 20 billion that the ‘Four Horsemen’ of Downtown (Richard Goldman, Richard Blum, Warren Hellman & Donald Fisher) think about him. Chris Daly cares about the poor.
He’s gone to jail for us. He’s been brutalized by the cops on our behalf. He’s represented our rage and frustrations before the SFGTV public and the world in a thousand meetings and demonstrations. He takes editorial low blows and sucker punches better than Rocky Balboa. He’s always in the top rungs of the Peoples ‘A’ list.
Obviously Daly gets one of the 4 ‘A’s we give on our new curve grading system. The 4th will surprise you.
Sean Elsbernd
At 27 years of age, Elsbernd was younger than even Daly and Newsom were upon taking his Board seat. Like Daly, but unlike Newsom, Elsbernd is a true believer in the values of the people what put him in office and kept him there. This guy is the right wing’s Chris Daly but, without the temper.
Oh, he gets pissed. He doesn’t walk around all the time during Board meetings cause he’s bored as one columnist suggested. Nope, he’s walking off the tension and frustrations at absorbing loss after loss to the progressive majority. Hall did the same thing. Ammiano needed more than a few strolls around the supes corral to walk off kicks to the groin when he was the lone progressive. Point is, this guy Elsbernd isn’t like Ma or Pier, forever reading scripts from the Mayor’s handlers. He understands everything and has 5 or 6 years working at supe level, first having been Tony Hall’s right hand man. It isn’t unusual for Sean to confront a progressive supe and point out a logical contradiction between a present position and one they professed months or years ago. Elsbernd’s consistency, intelligence, self-control and work ethic earn him the 4th ‘A’. Those are admirable traits no matter what your convictions.
The ‘B’ grades
We’re giving 3 ‘B’s on the scale and I wish we could give Ammiano and Maxwell ‘A’s but there just wasn’t room. Dufty’s consistent anti-tenant stance would get him an ‘F’ if this thing were all about political positions but it ain’t and he ain’t.
Ammiano
He’s already in the history books. Moreso, than anyone at City Hall. Tom’s championing of equal rights and representation for not only gays, but for average San Franciscans gave us district supervisors, gay cops and firefighters and teachers. His nascent SF Public Cable idea could be the cornerstone of the best (and cheapest) public television service on the planet. Look out for Ammiano. He’s back.
Maxwell
Has become the most respected voice in the City’s black community. Agree with her or not on issues ranging from developing the Hunters Point shipyard (bad) to leveling PG&E’s death-dealing District 10 power plant (yeah!), you can’t fault her integrity and flexibility. The fact that Willie and SFSOS continually backstabbed her from before her first day at the Board, shows that she was never a pawn. Sometimes, indeed, when tempers flare and the Sheriff’s deputies tense up, it can seem as if she and Peskin are the only adults in the room. Kudos to Sophie. A real queen.
Dufty
The boyish looking man has paid his tab and earned the front-row center table on his own. He works harder than hell. He knows everyone in town except you. If the people who actually run the City day-to-day were the only voters, he’d be mayor now. Since they aren’t, he’s gonna have to find a signature issue that promises to affect San Franciscans for long, long into the future and hang his hat on it. Handing out awards is fun. Bringing SF Tidal Power? Now, that would take some balls.
C’s
When the rubber meets the road. When the going gets tough. When faint hearts fail. No one can be certain what Jake McGoldrick or Gerardo Sandoval are going to do.
Both are normally solid votes for the progressive cause and, as a die-hard lefty, I appreciate that but their lack of predictability in tight spots gives me pause.
F’s
Michela Alioto-Pier is simply mean. … Even about little things, for God’s sake. Watching her drag out an early Board meeting to keep Ammiano from making the Giants opener last week (and grinning like a buffoon all the while) was thoroughly distasteful.
That didn’t get her a failing grade although it certainly helped. Naw, she fails cause she has zero ideas of her own. Newsom’s people have embraced her mean-spiritedness and constantly use her as a cudgel. I’d love to see her do one meeting without a crib sheet from Eric Jaye.
Fiona Ma makes Donald Trump seem shy. Her idea of important legislation is paying someone to tear down a flyer for a lost cat and fining someone for posting it. Same for yard sales. Or, parking your rec vehicle in front of your house. Here’s hoping that she’s right that she’s ‘just passing through’. But, let’s hope it’s in the opposite direction than she thinks. Every meeting, she commits the largest sin of all. … She doesn’t appreciate where she is.
Most dangerous people
Those would be Controller, Ed Harrington and developer front man, Michael Cohen. Over the past several weeks, we’ve been hearing shill after shill praise Harrington as ‘trusted by all’. Now, that’s a real heap of elephant dung. SFSOS put the man where he is by pulling a series of golden levers attached to Willie Brown’s balls. Now, they seek to make him the swing vote on every expenditure from the Transbay Terminal project to whether to ‘upgrade’ curb cuts or fill potholes (pick curb cuts and you win the office pool).
Cohen is a silver tongued liar who now runs around 7 billion dollars worth of projects as best I can calculate. Let’s see, he’s point man on the Lennar ship yard & Treasure Island projects and recently was introduced as Hellman’s new guy on the TBJP Board of Directors. His specialty is taking land that should legally be used to alleviate the suffering of the poor and giving it to rich developers. I see an even bigger future for this guy.
You’re a loser tooI’d like to say something good about you, but hey, we both know what you’re all about and it ain’t the public good. You’re going to continue to hide your drinking and pretend you’re not a junkie cause your drugs come from Rite-Aid. You’d fuck a snake and steal candy from a child. Sometimes I wonder why I even let you read my column. … Oh yeah, I remember. We’re just alike.
Go Giants!
