City attorney goes snap, crackle, pop

By: Ken Garcia
11/04/09 4:50 PM

The reason it's generally better when candidates have opponents in elections is it requires them to deal with the pertinent issues at hand in a campaign rather than spend their free time deciding whether a cereal maker is overstating the number of raisins in its Raisin Bran boxes.

And that will help explain how San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has been pushing the legal limits recently by challenging Kellogg Co., demanding that its executives stop advertising which suggests people who eat Cocoa Krispies will have their immunity boosted against illness.

That's it - I'm swearing off Fruit Loops.

Herrera won a moral victory when Kellogg's announced that it would remove the claim from their boxes even though the antioxidants it said it adds to the cereal "help the immune system.'' Herrera had opined that the claim amounted to false advertising and was a potential violation of a California fair trade law, and by the lucky charm of the media, the story got picked up nationally.

I don't think one needs a law degree to reach the conclusion that sugary cereals aren't an antidote for swine flu. And anyone who thinks that eating Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Flakes will serve as a health aid deserves the inevitable outcome.

Herrera, who ran unopposed, just got re-elected this week, a sweet feeling I'm sure. But if I were him, I don't think I'd be adding this particular brand of legal e...

Water bond creates a fluid situation in Sacramento

By: Ken Garcia
11/03/09 9:55 AM

If state legislative leaders can put their partisan bickering aside for about 24 more hours, it’s just possible that California could call a truce in its water wars for a few years.

A big if, I know, and it will cost us millions in debt payments each year, but then again, consider the Bay Bridge rebuild project, 20 years and counting. It doesn’t get cheaper to wait.

Early this morning the Senate narrowly approved a $10-billion bond measure that would pay for new dams, repair levees and include new infrastructure and restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The projects have been needed for years, but our bickering lawmakers have never been able to come to agreement on a legislative package.

Now it will be up to the Assembly to weigh in on the water bond, which includes a new state council to oversee the delta, the lynchpin in California’s water delivery system. The fight will now be over how water rights are assigned, especially in agricultural areas – and don’t expect those involved to go easily into the night.

But if no deal is reached, the standing of lawmakers will fall even lower in the eyes of voters, and they’re already suffering a drought in every recent public opinion poll.

Yet another San Francisco turf war

By: Ken Garcia
10/27/09 1:14 PM

In my published column today I opined on the value of getting new synthetic turf playing fields throughout San Francisco, a move that San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has attempted to slow, if not outright halt, through a series of legislative actions.

I called Mirkarimi last week to get his thoughts on why he was trying to wrest some budgetary control over the City Fields Foundation’s gifts to the Recreation and Parks Department. I didn’t hear back from him until after my deadline passed yesterday, but out of courtesy for the supervisor, I will post some of his comments on the issue.

For starters, Mirkarimi insists that he’s not trying to stop more synthetic turf fields from being installed in San Francisco. He says he’s just trying to improve what he says is a flawed process that has kept some members of the public from participating in hearings that would allow them to air their concerns.

“The public just wants some forum so that people can hear their concerns or so they can get more information," he told me. “At a town hall forum in my district (over a new turf field going into Kimball Park) there were unresolved concerns over access, lighting and the sighting of the fields."

Some people were feeling “shocked and surprised" that they were not informed about the fields, Mirkarimi said, and he wanted to increase the ...

Further proof that English Lit just doesn't pay

By: Ken Garcia
10/14/09 1:05 PM

It's hard to tell exactly who came up with this latest revenue generating plan for the UC system, but I'll guess that is wasn't somebody involved in the engineering business. That's because some nameless bean-counter has unearthed an idea that would require undergrad students studying engineering and business at UC campuses to pay up to $1,000 more per year than their fellow majors. And if you think the plan has caught fire, it's only because engineering and business students want the plan torched. It's one thing for graduate schools to add extra fees and quite another for undergrads to be hit with a surcharge, which is why it's never been done in California. Some UC officials say the two fields were singled out because their faculty members have higher salaries and graduates from those programs generally find better-paying jobs after college. And if it looks like some money-hungry bureaucrat came up with that justification for hiking fees already further than they have, you'd be right. Chances are that there's going to be significant push-back from student organizations when the plan comes before regents, possibly next month. But if the trustees want to redeem themselves from being accused of seeming unnecessarily greedy, they'll drop this plan unless they really like viewing protesters arrested at their meetings.

SF do-gooders plunge in to help out

By: Ken Garcia
10/07/09 11:01 AM

The great beauty of San Francisco isn’t always found in its natural landscape, its penchant for tolerance and its embrace of things both wild and crazy.

The city has a big heart, which it wears with a stylish handbag stuffed with cash.

Despite the severe economic downturn and a huge jump in unemployment, those with a little extra continue to hand it over to causes great and many. Last week, Friends of the Children, a non-profit that provides teaching mentors to disadvantaged children from the first through the 12th grade, raised nearly $100,000 at an event in which former Mayor Willie Brown was honored and only slightly roasted by my old colleague, Chronicle columnist Phil Matier.

And then this week, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods for low-income residents, raised slightly more than $220,000 at its annual Celebrity Pool Toss at the Phoenix Hotel. Among those braving the cold to go into the drink for charity were John Goldman, president of the San Francisco Symphony, Patricia Breslin, executive director of the San Francisco Hotel Council and David Landis, the public relations magician at the company which bears his name.

It’s times like these that San Francisco shows its true character. The city’s politics can be mean, but its streets are not.

St. Louis feels a mighty wind coming

By: Ken Garcia
10/06/09 4:05 PM

If more pre-game talking would help the hapless St. Louis Rams, then perhaps this is considered good news: Bombastic conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is apparently trying to buy the team.

What next, George Bush as general manager?

The Rams are coming off a 35-0 drubbing by the San Francisco 49ers and have lost 14 straight games. The only controversy has been over how bad the team is -- at least until now.

In a statement released today, Limbaugh announced that he's partnering with Dave Checketts, owner of the St. Louis Blues, in a bid to buy the Rams. No other details were included, so it's unclear if their deal involves an attempt to buy a minority or majority percentage of the team.

Limbaugh, who has made his fortune bashing Democrats and liberals, also had a brief foray into the NFL a few years back, when he worked for ESPN as a radio commentator. But that assignment didn't go smoothly, not after he said that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the "media'' wanted to see a black quarterback succeed in the NFL.

That measured comment caused him to resign. It may be the only time the word "resignation'' has been linked to his commentary.

No word yet on how St. Louis feel about Limbaugh's potential ownership. Right now you can only find St. Louis Cardinal fans around the Gateway Arch.

Bluegrass festival strikes all the right notes

By: Ken Garcia
09/30/09 1:00 PM

One of the great joys of the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco is that it brings us a kind of music not usually associated with the city, but a flock of characters that are. To that end I would offer Kevin Welch, a 30-year veteran of the Nashville music scene, who has played in almost every HSB since its inception nine years ago. Considered a supreme songwriter and guitarist by his peers, Welch recently moved to Austin, Texas to be closer to his music-playing kids and says he has tried to make it to San Francisco every year since he first picked up a guitar. He's playing along with his long-time collaborators Kireran Kane and Fats Kaplin on the Rooster Stage in Golden Gate Park on Sunday. "It kind of an interesting thing that a giant bluegrass festival happened in San Francisco,'' Welch told me. "I used to come in years before just to play Slim's and I would always jump at every chance to play there. "The festival has now become arguably one of the greatest music festivals in the world and in some ways it tops them all. What (HSB benefactor and local philanthropist) Warren Hellman is doing for San Francisco and for all of us is unbelievable. The festival has gotten seriously huge - it's just too good for people to stay away from. The word is out now.'' And words are Welch's stock in trade. Just a quick browse of his website will offer...

State park closure plan should be felled

By: Ken Garcia
09/22/09 12:48 PM

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried his best to nurture an image as bullish green, pro-environmental leader, but I'm afraid that picture is going to be marred if he insists on a plan to close 100 of California’s nearly 300 state parks.

The problem is the proposal just doesn’t cut it. The plan was first brought up during the budget crisis as a way of saving the state money. But a recent report by state authorities says that potential liability from shuttering the parks would likely offset any savings.

The report found that concession holders would lose millions if the parks were closed, further defeating the idea of instant savings. Besides, the expected $14 million that state could save by shutting down the parks is but a drop of dew on the massive $24 billion deficit California is facing.

The idea of limiting open space in California goes against the state’s self-promoted stance as the land of the great outdoors, a place of unbounded natural beauty. Millions of visitors flock to the parks each year and they remain an essential revenue stream for tourism.

The governor and state lawmakers need to re-think the closure plan and come up with a better cost-saving strategy – one that actually results in savings.

Crabtree's X's and O's don't include math

By: Ken Garcia
09/15/09 2:59 PM

Michael Crabtree, the San Francisco 49ers top draft pick, is hardly the first player to hold out in a contract disupte, but he may be the dumbest.

Crabtree, who so far has refused to sign a $20 million contract because he believes he should be paid more than players picked ahead of him - a delusional move that defies the NFL's long-honored slotting system - is actually losing money. The team has decided that it will decrease their offer on a pro-rated basis for each game he misses, according to reports, meaning that he just lost 1/16th of this year's salary.

Now I realize 1/16th of nothing is not a lot, but Crabtree apparently is even more math challenged than most. His representatives apparently believe that by sitting out the season and re-entering the draft, the wide receiver will get more money next year from another team. That's after sitting out a year and cementing his reputation as a churlish, prima donna.

You think bucking the NFL's own payment system is going to make you a richer man? Don't drop the Hail Mary pass Michael.

Some people think he'll sign before the season ends, but even if he does, his season is already over. Can he avoid the sophomore jinx? Maybe he just really enjoys being part of draft day.

Say hey Giants, it's not whiff(le) ball

By: Ken Garcia
09/02/09 11:43 AM

San Francisco Giants fan are hoping that newest pitching acquisition Brad Penny doesn't turn out to be a bad penny, but there's more on their minds as the continue possibly the most critical road trip this season. Like why can't they hit like other major league teams - and why don't their owners seem to care. The dreaded Dodgers, who have no trouble blasting the ball, picked up slugger Jim Thome while the pitching-rich Giants were out shopping for another arm, leaving loyal Giants followers wondering whether team management really understands that no matter how good the pitching is, you can't win if you can't score. And as if they needed that point brought home any clearer, the Phillies shut the Giants out 1-0 Tuesday night, with the team getting only two hits. The Rockies, meanwhile, continue to bomb away, beating the Mets in New York, and most baseball writers are casting Colorado as the favorites to win the NL wild card. Another Cy Young award for one of the Giants' talented pictures is not going to be adequate consolation to fans who see the obvious hole in the teams lineup - which may be why the desperate team called up rookie catcher Buster Posey today. If the scoreboard zeroes continue to add up, so will the calls for lineup changes on the field and in the front office.

Sports Illustrated gives Giants run support

By: Ken Garcia
08/28/09 11:15 AM

The Giants weekend series against the Colorado Rockies starting tonight could decide whether San Francisco sneaks into the post-season, but they may have gotten an unexpected boost from an unlikely source.

That would be Sports Illustrated, the national sports magazine, that was kind enough to leave a feature on the Giants’ dynamic pitching duo of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain off of it’s the primary focus of its cover. (It was given a little tease.)

You know, the one that jinxes all who dare grace it.

SI said the “prodigiously fearsome tandem’’ will likely determine whether the Giants make a run at the NL wildcard, and talks about how competitive the two are – down to the fact that the team won’t let them play catch with each other because they have a tendency to start throwing 90-mile-per-hour fastballs at each other.

With both pitchers having ERAs under 2.50, something accomplished only twice since 1920, SI said that the chance the Giants could have two hurlers throwing this well together “is the historical equivalent of the same person hitting the lottery twice.’’

The Giants would probably take hitting of any kind, since their offense is what’s kept them from catching up to the Rockies. A few runs would go a long way – Lincecum is 27-3 when the team scores more than three runs for him.

For the record, speed merch...

Public offers no free pass for BART union

By: Ken Garcia
08/18/09 2:29 PM

It's a good thing that rail travel and ticket taking are universal things, because the demands of BART's station agents and train operators were so off track that they might as well be on another continent.

So we can only hope the members of local 1555 of the Amalgamated Transit Union have listened loud and clear to the furious public because if they don’t vote to approve the tentative agreement with BART next week and clear the final hurdle to avoid threat of a strike, they are sure to be handed the next ticket out of town.

It would be hard to imagine a scenario in which one organized labor group could bring such widespread disdain, anger and criticism upon itself, but let's give BART’s station agents and train operators their due. They worked overtime to get the hundreds of thousands of faithful BART patrons rallied against them and brought to the surface simmering outrage from a public that has little tolerance for union hardball tactics at a time when people are making huge economic sacrifices.

Word is that the near universal backlash against the union’s demands was the final ingredient to get its leadership to make concessions and reach a temporary settlement. We’ll find out next week if they can still see the light at the end of that long, narrow tunnel.

New football team goes deep (into the forest)

By: Ken Garcia
08/12/09 10:57 AM

And here I thought the Sequoias were coming.

But no, the big exciting news coming out of the new United Football League this week is that the local franchise will be named the California Redwoods, which must make the tree mascot at Stanford just sway with pride.

There may be worse team names than the Redwoods, though none immediately come to mind. I realize that many members of the animal kingdom have had their names emblazoned on sports uniforms, a tired trend, but that’s still no reason to start looking in the bushes and the trees for new team monikers.

After all, the four-team league may be dull, but that doesn’t have to pertain to its name.

Somehow “let’s go Redwoods’’ lacks a certain pizazz. I did see that the ever-ready Rock Fish was entertained and rejected, which may be the best move the San Francisco team has made so far.

The league opener is scheduled at AT&T Park on Oct. 17 against, of all teams, the Las Vegas Locomotives, pitting two teams with the most lamentable names right from the get go.

In a burst of creativity, team officials unveiled the new uniforms, which naturally are green. What can we expect of the Locomotives, gunmetal gray?

When City Hall resembles Fantasy Island

By: Ken Garcia
08/04/09 1:21 PM

Now that the city’s Civil Service Commission has decided to cut the salaries of San Francisco’s public office holders 2.45 percent, you have to wonder just how they will survive.

It pays to remember that it was just about seven years ago when members of the Board of Supervisors came up with the great plan to nearly triple their salaries. At the time they were making about $38,000 – they voted to give themselves an annual paycheck of more than $100,000.

Do you think they’re working three times harder than the previous boards? Do you think all the supervisors work five days a week? If so, you don’t spend that much time down at City Hall.

Back when they were huffing and puffing about their poor wages, the board members pushing for the pay raise – former supervisors Matt Gonzalez and Tony Hall – argued that if city voters approved the salary hike, it would improve the quality of people running for public office.

And to that I countered that there are two words which should make people realize why that is a fantasy: Chris Daly.

I’m sure readers could add some words to their own list. But this is one case where city residents are clearly not getting what they pay for.

Further proof why some things just don’t mix

By: Ken Garcia
07/28/09 12:52 PM

I never heard the term “car surfing’’ until today and I think most level-headed people would agree that the terms don’t really go together, no matter how far you are away from a sizable wave.

So, as a public service announcement, I’m going to let readers understand why this principle is worth noting, in the hope that reality will halt stupidity from repeating itself.

Santa Clara County prosecutors announced that a Sunnyvale woman who was driving while her boyfriend was “surfing’’ on the hood of the car, will spend no more than one year in jail. Athena Ford, 20, was behind the wheel May 16 when her boyfriend, Paul Benabides, 20, fell off the Toyota Camry while it was traveling more than 30 miles per hour.

Benabides died from brain injuries suffered in the fall. I should add that to no one’s surprise, alcohol was cited as one of the factors in the accident.

Surfing is a great sport and thankfully there’s enough ocean (still) upon which to ride. I highly recommend trying it. But for those who can’t, improvisation should be left to the acting class.

Budget deal does not pass Go, goes directly to jail

By: Ken Garcia
07/22/09 1:57 PM

We could have expected the somewhat hysterical, mostly organized reaction to California’s eye-raising $26 billion budget deal from all the effected interest groups and local officials. That’s one of the reasons we got in this mess in the first place.

But the reaction from some people involved in the final fiscal plan? Now that is surprising.

Not long after the budget deal was announced, Republican Assembly leader Sam Blakeslee was firing off emails to his colleagues suggesting that he’s been “double-crossed,’’ over an item that involved the release of 27,000 inmates from California prisons. Blakeslee said members of his party wouldn’t support the plan, calling any idea that could endanger the public “unacceptable.’’

Except the governor’s office said its plan is to stop people eligible for prison from entering under a series of measures, not to release those already incarcerated. The program would effect only those convicted of low-level offenses and others who successfully complete alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs.

We’ll see soon enough if it’s a battle of rhetoric or whether lawmakers in Sacramento are being less straight with themselves than they are with the voters. When it comes to prison issues, legislators make sure the press always gets their releases early.

California's budget bursting with mad money

By: Ken Garcia
07/21/09 11:19 AM

When the governor and state legislative leaders emerged to announce their tentative $26 billion deal to close the budget deficit yesterday, the photo was one of all official grins. Which leads us to the obvious question: Why are these people smiling? The budget problems have been a tangled mess, the solutions a plethora of bad precedents. And the labor, education and health and human services groups getting hit the hardest aren't just crying foul, they're shouting from the rooftops. "This is the biggest step back from protecting vulnerable Californians in a generation,'' said Frank Mecca of the California Welfare Directors Association. "To walk away from kids now, in the midst of the worst recession in 75 years, just seems to stand reality on its head,'' came the assessment from Michael Herald of the Western Center on Poverty & Law. One thing we could all agree on this budget is that its an equal opportunity demoralizer. In making the draconian cuts, no value was left untouched. Education ($7.3 billion), Medi-Cal ($1.3 billion), transportation ($1 billion) and local redevelopment ($1.7 billion) all got pummelled - some with the promise that the funds will be paid back. Can you say election year promise? Of course, state lawmakers still have to approve it -- and we know judging by the previous year just how much we can take them at their word.

A model for public transit that won’t stop in SF

By: Ken Garcia
07/14/09 12:19 PM

If San Francisco’s notoriously red-ink railway line continues lose money, here’s a trend you still can't see it hopping on: Cities across the county are starting to outsource their transit systems as a way to avoid a more permanent stop.

Rather than continue to cut services, cities including New Orleans, Savannah and Houston are awarding contracts to outside agencies to manage and operate their transit systems. Houston is paying a division of Parsons Corp $1.5 billion to manage their new light rail lines and New Orleans is paying about $60 million a year, possibly for the next ten years, to have Veolia Environment to run its bus and streetcar lines.

Our own Municipal Railway has become an annual scourge at budget time, the cause of heated talks and ongoing threats over its accounting practices. And as the Wall Street Journal adroitly notes, while interest in public transit is increasing, the traditional revenue streams those agencies rely on is declining. So cities are turning to private companies that can run the systems more efficiently – in some cases, as much as 30 percent cheaper.

Of course, some of those cities are not saddled with charter-driven union contracts and outrageous demands from its workforce – something for which San Francisco is increasingly famous. Phoenix, according to the Journal, “lives and breathes’’ with its outsi...

Sweet swinger brings some joy to Mudville.

By: Ken Garcia
07/10/09 4:19 PM

It’s too bad that Pablo Sandoval didn’t make the National League All-Star team, but the whole Vote for Pablo campaign was encouraging for a number of reasons. For starters, Sandoval is getting national attention – he’s now a darling of the ESPN crews. And the San Francisco Giants finally have a hitter worth watching that’s bulked up on food, not growth hormones. Sandoval reminds me a lot of Kevin Mitchell, another free-swinging, free-spirit, who, for those fans old enough to remember, also started out as a third-baseman for the Giants.Sandoval is also surprisingly agile for his size – and you almost expect him, like Mitchell, to snatch a line drive out of the air – with his bare hand. And the comparison comes with some wishful thinking, because it was the addition of Mitchell that led the Giants to one of their rare World Series appearances, a team that was fun to watch (at least up until the Loma Prieta earthquake took all the fun out of the Bay Bridge Series).

Dignity takes a moonwalk at Jackson Memorial

By: Ken Garcia
07/07/09 10:01 AM

It may come as a surprise that matters of taste would be discussed in relation to any future affairs involving the late pop sensation Michael Jackson, but today's memorial service in Los Angeles arrived with some wishful thinking.

For those seeking one of the cherished public tickets to Jackson's memorial services at the Staples Center in Los Angeles came a plea usually associated with rock concerts: No scalpers please. Try to show a little dignity.

Oh well, nice try.

With an overwhelming demand for the tickets - more than 1.6 million people had registered for the lottery by the weekend - and only 17,500 available for distribution - city officials were trying to discourage a mass of people from descending on the downtown site by issuing warnings that only ticket holders would be admitted.

"The memorial will be staged in a safe and calm manner,'' insisted L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry to the Los Angeles Times.

But the decorum didn’t extend to the ticket lottery. Not long after the requests for no scalping were issued, the first tickets to hit eBay and Craigslist were out, with bids reaching as high as $3,000.

We can only offer a penny for their thoughts.

A place to egg on budding rock stars

By: Ken Garcia
06/30/09 12:31 PM

San Francisco has long been one of the country’s cutting-edge plate setters, so I think there’s one new epicurean trend that it will safely avoid.

That would be a push to center nightlife around what in these parts would be considered a culinary shack – the grand slam of eateries we know as Denny’s.

No less an authority than the Wall Street Journal reports this week that the roadside restaurant chain is working overtime to remake itself as a late night hot spot for restless youth looking for a place to hang. To that end Denny’s is starting to pipe in rock music after 10 p.m. (Country in those states that favor it) and is scheduling concerts for rising, local bands.

And – hold your side orders – they’re having “cool’’ musical acts like Good Charlotte create their own menu items.

Can an Adam Duritz bacon cheeseburger be in our future?

Officials at Denny’s, which is based in the foodie haven of Spartanburg, South Carolina, said that the bands the chain wants to promote have to fit in with the restaurant’s image.

And if I’m in a band that fits that mold, I’d be scrambling.

Harris adds new word to political campaign: Whoops

By: Ken Garcia
06/23/09 1:22 PM

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris was running a quiet campaign in her bid to become California’s next top law enforcement officer. But I think it’s fair to say that she’s making some noise now.

Not in any good way mind you.

Using taxpayer money for a program that expunged criminal records of illegal immigrants is about the fastest way to grab national attention these days, and because of her role in doing that, Harris is well on her way.

No sooner had the first reports of the lax scrutiny over the Back on Track program surfaced when officials in Washington began questioning its oversight and Harris’ role in clearing the criminal records.

Harris has yet to answer many questions about the program or her decision to let illegal immigrants into it, even though they can’t work legally in this country. And if you don’t think her critics or political opponents aren’t going to press the issue, then I guess you haven’t spent much time on a campaign trail.

“While a great deal of attention has been focused on Ms. Harris’ nurturing of convicted illegal alien drug criminals, the larger question is why their drug convictions are being wiped clean,’’ read a statement from Republican state Sen. Tom Harman, who, like Harris, is also running for Attorney General.

Harman is known as a tough-on-crime stalwart. After this...

LA fights for its right to party

By: Ken Garcia
06/16/09 3:07 PM

Maybe it’s good that most of the Bay Area’s professional sports franchises are moribund because it’s just possible local cities couldn’t afford the price of success.

The city of Los Angeles and their new NBA champions, the Lakers, worked out a deal recently that will require the city and the team to kick in about $1 million apiece to cover the cost of a parade and a large party at the Coliseum tomorrow. And considering that the city is facing a huge deficit and hundreds of employees are being laid off, some people are, not surprisingly, crying foul.

The head of the police union ripped the city for spending the money for such a lavish celebration and one can only imagine what our politically-correct officials in Oakland and San Francisco might say if those cities were doling out big bucks for civic fests during a fiscal emergency.

Give us your homeless, your poor, but not your multimillionaire professional basketball players. You may recall that some San Francisco officials were even opposed to the Olympic torch passing through.

True to form, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reacted to the criticism by telling reporters he plans to raise all the civic dough through corporate donations – which probably means he’ll be calling celebrity Laker fan Jack Nicholson to see if he’ll put up his shades for auction.

Governor barely survives budget glitch

By: Ken Garcia
06/10/09 3:26 PM

One word you never want to hear when slashing a budget following other severe cutbacks is “whoops.’’

Yet that is the word being hushed (with a slight Austrian accent) by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger these days after he discovered that one of his spending mandates would have resulted in the loss of health benefits for families of police officers and firefighters killed on duty.

In politics, that's like tossing a grenade - at yourself.

The governor discovered it the hard way – he had to read about it in the Los Angeles Times. He later called the proposal a “terrible screw-up’’ and said that the plan is being corrected.

A suggestion for the governor’s staff and lawmakers involved in the ongoing huddle to figure out a way to cut $24 billion from the state budget: Read the fine print.

SF seeks out, finds, Monopoly money

By: Ken Garcia
06/09/09 2:11 PM

Has San Francisco quietly reopened the Old Mint to print money while no one is looking?

I raise the question because it does seem odd that when a city like Oakland, facing a $100 million deficit, starts talking about declaring bankruptcy, how is it that San Francisco looks at a $500 million budget hole and says, hey, everything’s fine?

It’s possible that Oakland is a better money manager – certainly that wouldn’t be a tough comparison when you consider that San Francisco’s budget is bigger than cities four times its size. Or maybe Oakland is just more comfortable with crisis management, since when was the last time our East Bay neighbor wasn’t in some kind of crisis?

But give Oakland credit for at least presenting an honest assessment of the economic crisis. The city council says its options essentially amount to drastic pay reductions for city employees, huge cuts to the police and fire departments or mass layoffs across the board. Oh, and bankruptcy.

San Francisco’s budget includes no cuts to police and fire personnel and most of the layoffs involve positions that have been vacant.

But bankruptcy? Mayor Gavin Newsom doesn’t even like to use the word crisis. That would be, so, uh, un-governor like.

For feds, no joy in Mudville

By: Ken Garcia
06/03/09 7:24 AM

Federal prosecutors may dig the long ball, but it’s looking more and more that when it comes to the Barry Bonds steroids perjury case, they’re hanging their hopes on a bloop single.

This week they filed a brief asking an appeals court to allow them to use evidence already tossed out by a trial court judge that allegedly included three positive steroid tests linked to the former Giants slugger. Prosecutors claim that U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston was in error when she excluded the evidence such as an alleged “doping calender’’ kept by Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson.

Illston said that there is no way to prove the evidence is what they allege without Anderson’s testimony and he has consistently refused to take the witness stand, spending more than a year in prison to prove his point.

But as many critics have pointed out in a legal fight that has now dragged on for six years, if the federal government’s entire case depends on the testimony of one individual, it’s not much of a case. And that will explain why it has taken so long for prosecutors to bring it to trial, even while drumming up a lifetime supply of headlines in the process.

Bonds’ lawyers won’t even reply to the arguments until mid-summer, likely delaying the start of any trial until the fall – or around the time the World Series is bein...

Fake ice takes music industry by storm

By: Ken Garcia
05/26/09 10:37 AM

As if we needed any more signs of the coming apocalypse, it arrived this week in less than glittering fashion. “Bling,’’ we are told, has lost its zing.

And that announcement comes from an unlikely if nearly irrefutable source – the conservative-minded Wall Street Journal – which reported that the economy is cramping hip-hop’s style by requiring the gaudy merchants of giant jewelry to downsize.

And worse – to replace sizable diamond pendants with cubic zirconia, the standard-bearer of fake stones.

It’s gotten so bad that rapper 50 Cent has accused his musical rivals of being fakes, or rather, of wearing them. But it’s not because they’ve lost their lust for bedazzling chains – they just can no longer afford them.

“A lot of these rappers simply don’t have the money for real stuff anymore,’’ the Journal quotes Beverly Hills jeweler to the stars, Jason Arasheben. “It’s to the point wear they are wearing imitation jewelry.’’

And, as Arasheben adroitly notes, “that’s ridiculous.’’

It’s enough to make your pinkie ring want to clank off in embarrassment.

Handoff or handout? Santa Clara set to fumble

By: Ken Garcia
05/19/09 12:16 PM

When city officials announce that they’re in the “red zone’’ it’s usually a sign that the budget is a mess and the taxpayers are about to take a hit. In the case of Santa Clara’s stated intention to sign a new stadium deal with the San Francisco 49ers, it’s all of the above, plus a signal that this plan, as with most involving the organization, is as shaky as some of its recent draft picks.

If the city council moves ahead with the plan, the 49ers say the stadium will open in 2014. Sure, just like they were going to rebuild San Francisco's Candlestick Park by, 2008, or 2010 – oh wait – 2012.

Santa Clara would only be required to pony up $90 million in public funds – a rather curious amount, since San Francisco voters approved $100 million in revenue bonds for its new stadium about 10 years ago. Yet the cost of the stadium has nearly doubled to $916 million.

Sound like a deal too good to be true? It did then, and it certainly does now.

The city money will reportedly come from redevelopment funds and an increase in the hotel tax. And while there may be a lot of interest in watching Alex Smith stand on the sidelines, I don’t know anyone who books weekends in Santa Clara, even when attending its best-known attraction to date, Great America amusement park.

Voters are allegedly going to get a chance to have their say on the ...

Can't we just ask her about world peace?

By: Ken Garcia
05/12/09 12:45 PM

I never thought I’d be in his camp, but let’s give thanks for Donald Trump. The man of a thousand combovers has made it (almost) safe to read a newspaper again.

Trump said that Miss California USA can retain her crown, an act which should remove Carrie Prejean from dealing with the press, an area in which she clearly lacks the proper equipment.

Bikinis, yes. Hard questions, no.

Ms. Prejean got into hot water when she was asked by a celebrity judge about her views on marriage, which she believed only involved a man and a woman. Hey, do you think someone who is as committed to competing in beauty pageants as Prejean has time to keep up with, you know, the latest stuff?

And then pageantry officials got all pushed out of shape when she failed to tell them that she posed in her underwear as a teenager. I mean, come on, it just shows that she’s been practicing this runway/swimsuit thing her whole life.

The career of a professional pageant competitor is a relatively short one, but Prejean deserves credit for extending hers through many, many news cycles.

As Trump noted about the controversial pictures, we are in the 21st century. And clearly, since a lot of people are taking beauty pageants seriously, we are making progress.

Sexy shoes no substitute for safe sex

By: Ken Garcia
05/06/09 11:40 AM

Nineteen-year-old unwed teen mother Bristol Palin says her son is “not a mistake, he’s a blessing,’’ but can the same be said of the ad campaign that is using her as a spokesperson for pregnancy prevention?

Palin, whose mother Sarah preached family values during her run as the Republican vice-presidential candidate last year, emerged this week as the new “teen ambassador’’ for the Candie’s Foundation promotional campaign against teen pregnancy. Motherhood, she has discovered, is a full-time job, and it’s a tough one, especially when you’re going at it alone (the baby’s father, Levi Johnston, has since flown the Palins’ circle of trust - he recently showed up on the daytime talk shows admitting that the couple practiced safe sex “most of the time.’’)

But now Palin is preaching a 24-hour vigil of abstinence or, at the very least, protection, with her four-month-old Tripp bouncing on her lap as undeniable evidence of the potential consequences of teenage trysts.

“It’s not like an accessory on your hip,’’ she said during appearances on the morning shows. “It’s hard work.’’

In a campaign filled with mixed messages, it should be noted that Candie’s promotes itself as a maker of “sexy shoes.’’

It probably can’t be long befor...