At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, members elected to put a $412 million bond measure on the June ballot. That money is supposed to build a new police command center, upgrade the water supply for firefighters and make firehouses seismically sound. Here’s my dramatic interpretation of the debate (only statements in quotation marks are real quotes):
David Chiu: The Big One is going to hit us any day now, so let’s get this done. Everyone agrees this is a good idea, even the mayor.
David Campos: I see that more than $60 million here is designated for “critical firefighting facilities and infrastructure.” We can’t get more specific than that?
Project Manager Charles Higueras: We need $400 million to fix all our firehouses, but we’re going to do the best we can with that measly $60 million and hit up the voters again in five or six years for the rest. Our environmental approval prevents us from telling you exactly which firehouses will be fixed.
Campos: The environmental approval is keeping you from telling voters what you’re doing with more than $60 million?
Higueras: Yes.
Campos: Bullshit. I’ve never heard of such nonsense.
Chiu: The Big One is coming, man. This is no time to be nitpicky. Whatever it’s spent on, it’ll be fancy firehouse seismic stuff.
Chris Daly: I’d like to throw a wrench into this entire discussion by pointing out that the justice facilities at 850 Bryant will get a new building, but the jail section of 850 Bryant is not being seismically fixed. That’s in my district and those are my constituents. “I care more about the people at the jail, people who are there involuntarily, if we have a seismic incident than I do about the rest of the people at 850 Bryant.”
Sean Elsbernd: Oh. My. God. You did not actually just say that! Those other people at 850 Bryant are public servants and citizens serving on juries.
Daly: Oh yes, I did and I’ll say it again for the people in the cheap seats: “I have more care for the folks we have locked up there rightfully or perhaps wrongly.”
Chiu: Fixing the jail cells would cost more than $1 billion. Let’s move forward with this. The Big One is coming!
Campos: Is there anything we can tell the voters about this $60 million for firehouses?
Higueras: Yes, tell them it’ll be used to fix 10 to 12 firehouses. We just don’t know which ones.
Campos: Good enough.
The measure passed 9-1, with Daly voting “no.”
And that’s the final stretch of putting a $412 million bond on the ballot.
Daly is being disingenuous when he voices his concern over prisoners. The new jail funds are already scheduled for the following budget years, to be raised by selling existing classes of bonds at the expense of the City's credit rating. It's being done this way out of recognition that a general obligation bond specifically for the jail could be easily defeated in an election.
Posted by: Able Dart | February 25, 2010 at 10:50
"Campos: Bullshit. I’ve never heard of such nonsense." Finally, something David Campos and I agree on.
Some enterprising reporter or columnist should ask Mr. Higueras "Specifically what part of the environmental review prevents you from telling the BOS and taxpayers which firehouses you are going to fix and why?"
Posted by: Howard Epstein | February 25, 2010 at 14:39
MELsterpiece Theater: Far and away, hands down, the absolute best trope in the Sweet Melissa toolbox of reportage. I get so excited when I see the screenplay format in my RSS feed.
Posted by: generic | February 25, 2010 at 16:19
This is a literary device, right? Cause there's no way in reality Campos busts out a swear before Daly.
Posted by: DJTennessee | February 27, 2010 at 09:48
Thanks to all of you for writing!!
Generic - I'm honored to be in your RSS!
DJT - Sadly, these are not quotes. I'm giving you a five-minute speech in a few words. Campos would never swear on the record, and actually I've never heard him swear off the record, either.
Able - Indeed, Sarah Phelan over at the Bay Guardian wrote a piece explaining the plan for the jails: http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/02/26/who-cares-about-sfs-black-and-brown-prisoners-part-2
Howard - I've been emailing Higueras and will write more about this when it's voter guide time.
Posted by: Melissa Griffin | February 27, 2010 at 10:05