Watching City Hall #442 (3-15-06)

“We’re holding up your Congressional filing for .29 cents.�

 

          In the most bizarre move of the early election cycle, Director, John Arntz’s Elections Department phoned Green Party candidate Krissy Keefer yesterday to tell her that there had been a complaint to his department from the Office of the Secretary of State of the State of California  …  that they had gone over Keefer’s candidacy application papers and that by their numbers, the Dance Mission Maven was short .29 cents.    They would not file her papers until they had a check in hand for that amount.
 

 

          Nope.    Nice offer but the .29 cents couldn’t come from just anyone who happened to have an office close to the ‘People in the Basement’ (DOE).    Soooo, Keefer went down and gave them their check and the entire operation probably cost the taxpayers a grand in bureaucratic rigmaroles and another 10 grand minimum from the Pelosi dirty politics account of her 20 million dollar war chest.
 

          Last time a Green ran against Pelosi, brother Arntz and his DOE first counted, then rejected stacks of write-in votes for Green Party candidate, Terry Baum.    Get real here folks, Arntz may be a decent guy personally (although no one has confirmed that for me) … but, he does what he’s told by the Democratic machine that put him on the DOE throne.    Like Newsom on the C3 parking issue, he first renders the decision that makes sense and is recommended by staff, then he turns around and reverses his decision under pressure from the Democratic machine.    This race is gonna be ugly and I love it.
 

          Bad enough he got divorced.     Now, he’s challenging the Pope!?!   And, if I’m not wrong, both in the same week.    Clearly the boy is possessed and for the good of the City, we are going to have to get a band of pedophile priests and tie him down spread-eagle on a big 4 poster bed and exorcise him … at least, we hope that’s all they’ll do to him.    Naw, whatever, we have to trust staff on this one and exorcism is the way to go.
 

 

          Mayor Newsom’s move is the right one for a man in his position but he could have done it better.    He should have gone to Rome with this esteemed group of faithful (what’d they do wrong?) and simply refused to meet with Levada or the Pope.   Now that, … that … would have taken a set of balls that Newsom simply doesn’t have.    But, the delegation from San Francisco should continue with their plans and have a hell of a good time despite the views of the present Catholic hierarchy.    A friend told me the following once when we were discussing Avriel Sharon allowing hundreds in a refugee camp to be systematically slaughtered.
 

 

          St. Peter’s in Rome belongs to the faithful, not to the Pope.    If you got an opportunity to visit the White House when Bush was out of town, wouldn’t you want to see the building?    Do you still go to concerts at the Fillmore and the Warfield even though the evil ‘Clear Channel’ runs the places?    Of course, on all points.
 
          A sign or two held up in protest might be nice.    You know, something non-incendiary like:   ‘Levada does not speak for San Francisco’.    Otherwise, enjoy the trip.    The Pope and Levada are old men and won’t last forever.    Unfortunately, neither will much of the SF entourage.    They should not allow the ignorance, cruelty and intolerance of Levada and the Pope to keep them from enjoying the experience of seeing the living museum of their religious faith.    That would be like a Muslim refusing to make their obligatory (to them) trip of a lifetime to Mecca because they don’t like Osama bin Laden.
Bon voyage to Joe Veronese, Luke Thomas and Rachel Gordon.    I’ve been there once, long ago and the buildings, the art and the energy from the consecration of millions of previous pilgrims make the place beyond match.
 

          A Japanese journalist who just escaped from China has posted a story claiming that over 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners  have been moved to a secret concentration camp in Shenyang City in Sujiatun District.
 
          The camp is purported to be quipped with a modern crematorium and is staffed by a cadre of doctors whose task is to murder the Falun Gong while harvesting their organs for resale on the international black market.    Their remains are then cremated.  
 
          But, Gavin went to China and shook hands with the people directing this current genocide.    As did Richard Blum and Donna Feinstein and the Getty’s with their private jet with the gold plated bathroom fixtures.    Could this newest example of the Mayor’s ‘selective outrage’ stem from the fact that SF financial interests are making billions off of Chinese slave labor and virtually nothing from the Vatican?
 

Item # 1  …  the Board will vote 10-0 with McGoldrick in the can on giving the SFPD more money for intentionally over-deploying selected POA members for massive amounts of overtime while refusing to bring the department up to legal manpower level.    Not one of the wimps will stand and say:  “We should follow the example of Oakland – ‘Oakland’?- and order the department to put more officers on foot patrols.�   Of course they won’t.   But, they should.   They should choose a foot patrol centered City-wide deployment model from the archives and tell the Chief she has 30 days to begin implementation.   If she refuses to act, fire her and get a chief who’ll work for the public good.
 
Item #4  …  MOU of the Fire Department.   Will pass 10-0 with McGoldrick off telling stories in the hall.   This legislation reflects a reversal of proven best practices; in this case, combining the jobs of line firefighter and paramedic.    It punishes the hardest workers and rewards the sloths of whom the fire chief is the worst example.
 
Item #5  …  Once again Ross Mirkarimi shows us why he’s ‘Gonzalez lite’.    “the City should supply electricity to new City developments ‘where feasible’ (!?!)�.    ‘Where feasible’?   Ross, useless legislation is worse than no legislation at all.    Ahhh, but you’ll say that you made another step toward public power.    Bullshit, like community aggregation, this is a toothless façade that has PG&E laughing.    You’ll probably get a note congratulating you on this.    From Robert McCarthy.    Will pass 10-0.
 
Item #14  …  14 million for work at Laguna Honda.   I don’t even know what’s wrong with this but you can bet half of it is graft and obfuscation.    10-0.
 
Item #22  …  HR 4232 “End the War in Iraq Act of 2005�  …   Just tweak this a bit and have the Mayor sign on too.    He hid under his table when the Board’s (Daly’s) ‘Impeach Bush’ legislation came to him.   The same people who fund Pelosi and Newsom are making billions off this war.   Pelosi won’t play Gandhi until Green challenger, Keefer reaches 35% in the polls (August 1^st).   Vote will be 7-4, same as impeachment vote with same nays:  Maxwell, Elsbernd, Ma & Pier.
 
Item #26  …  Soooo, Mirkarimi wants to ‘commend’ Dr. Smith upon getting forced out of the Haight Ashbury Free Cinic  organization?   Another wimp position that does nothing but allow Ross to swell his chest in pride and hand out a useless piece of paper wrapped with cardboard.    What he should be doing is calling for an investigation of how this happened.    Prove me wrong, Ross.   Introduce a call for committee hearings on the rip-off of this precious D-5 resource.   You got 10 doctors at the door waiting to testify now.
 
Public Comment  …  Item #21  …  You’ll be screwed here because Peskin doesn’t really like to listen to the public talk all that much and he’ll shorten the time each member of the public can speak from 3 minutes down to 2.    Note here that the past 2 Board presidents damned near always (Gonzo & Tom) gave everyone 3 minutes.
 
smile at the next cop you see
 
note:  this weeks Salon will be ‘on the road’)