It appears that money is the only thing that will motivate our state politicians to get things done on time. A case in point is the voter-mandated law that stated if a budget is not passed on time, the legislators won’t be paid either now of retroactively. Lo and behold, we had their budget — even though Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it for being full of gimmicks. Read More

The Muni drivers rolled the dice and lost when they refused management’s last offer. They figured they had two more chances to improve on the deal they rejected — the arbitrator and the courts. Muni management’s offer was based on a weak interpretation of Proposition G that would make life easier for both management and the union while appearing to rein in the drivers. Read More

Just like your columnist Steven Greenhut said Sunday, “A bigger government does not make us a better people.” Nor does bigger office space on Market Street necessarily make our Muni transit system “more reliable and durable,” as claimed by San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency  Deputy Executive Director Carter Rohan in a Friday letter. Read More

CPMC’s proposed plans to build two new hospitals at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard and St. Luke’s should be applauded by San Franciscans, not criticized. In the midst of the approvals process, we must not forget that our city relies on CPMC as a primary provider of culturally competent health care and services. For instance, CPMC has been one of San Francisco’s strongest partners in our fight against Hepatitis B and has been instrumental in the San Francisco Hep B Free Campaign, providing free screenings for children, seniors and families in our community. Read More

Alameda’s so-called public servants who watched a suicidal man drown on Memorial Day should all be brought up on charges. I can only imagine there would have been a rescue attempt if it was a whale offshore in 4 feet of water instead of a human. Since they failed in human decency to at least walk up to the man in chest-high water, isn’t there a good Samaritan law? Straight, gay, short, small, fat or tall — at least an attempt should have been made to serve and protect a human life! Theodore Carl Soderberg, San FranciscoLetter vacant of logic Read More

I manage a building with two dozen residents. At 8:30 one morning last week, a worker for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission rang my bell to announce he was going to shut off the building’s water and change the meter.I ran outside and informed him that he was not going to shut off the water while the tenants were getting ready for work and school. I was not informed of any impending shutoff and would not have scheduled for this time. Read More

In Ken Garcia’s Thursday column, he reports Supervisor Sean Elsbernd’s view that the mayor’s pension reform plan (which saves The City much less money than Jeff Adachi’s pension reform plan) is still better — because the Adachi plan may be illegal. Elsbernd defends the mayor’s inferior plan by arguing that the Adachi plan impacts city employees’ vested pension rights by requiring increased contributions without giving the employees “commensurate compensation.”     Read More