Mayor Lee should do nothing about Mirkarimi

Photo my Michael Mator for the Chronicle

Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Most political leaders, however, assume that being "proactive" is what the public expects, that doing something is better than doing nothing. With the Mirkarimi issue, Mayor Lee is facing a problem that requires no action on his part, except issuing a statement explaining why he's not going to try to remove Sheriff Mirkarimi from office.

An attempt to remove Mirkarimi would involve a hearing before the Ethics Commission and then a trial-like hearing before the Board of Supervisors. It would be a messy, ugly process, and the outcome is uncertain.

The legal process has done its thing with the plea bargain. After today's sentencing hearing, that process will be over.

The Mayor should now let the political process take over.

If Mirkarimi isn't removed by a recall election---threatened by the domestic violence people---he will almost certainly be defeated if he runs in 2015. Surely he's already suffered enough from his self-inflicted wounds. His marriage may be fatally damaged, his normal relationship with his son has been disrupted, and his political career is probably over.

In San Francisco, being Sheriff is a low-profile, administrative job. Better to let Mirkarimi disappear into the bureaucracy than to start an ugly removal process. No one heard anything from or about former Sheriff Hennessey, except at election time, which is the way it should be for that job.

Doing nothing is Mayor Lee's best option, which will have added benefits, like taking the Mirkarimi story out of the news and, even better, sparing us any more C.W. Nevius columns on the subject.

Redistricting means little to District 5

The Lower Haight Merchant+Neighbor Association will be making an unconvincing---and largely irrelevant---case to the Redistricting Task Force tomorrow morning (10 a.m. at the Community Center, 1050 McAllister Street) about the border between District 5 and District 8. Along with some blather about "diversity" and "vibrancy," the group is pushing some bad ideas. 

"We advocate keeping the LGBT Center in District 8. We understand how important it is to the district to have the Castro and the LGBT Center in the same district and honor it."

On the contrary, we should never "honor" identity politics. The American ideal is integration and assimilation, not separatism. It doesn't make any difference to anyone but a few gay chauvinists and those who pander to them, like Thea Selby---a candidate for District 5 Supervisor---what district the LGBT Center is in.

"55 Laguna property, located in the Lower Haight, should be in District 5 with the rest of the Lower Haight. A major development is going in at 55 Laguna...This development has the possibility of changing our neighborhood significantly."

Again, who cares? It doesn't make any difference which district this awful project is in. Yes, of course the project---450 housing units, 1,000 new residents---will "change" that whole part of town---for the worse. Since the chronic traffic jam created by Octavia Blvd. is only a block away, adding all those new residents, while limiting parking for the new housing units, will only make traffic in the area worse. Not to mention the Planning Department's other dumb "smart growth" project in the area: the Market and Octavia Plan, which will bring 10,000 more people to the area, with a bunch of highrises at Market and Van Ness. (The Bicycle Coalition likes the M/O Plan because, like the UC project, it limits the parking developers can provide for all those new housing units.)

Note that the massive "55 Laguna" housing development is now the official name for the property that used to be the UC Extension on lower Haight Street. The city---with Supervisor Mirkarimi leading the way---allowed UC to hijack and privatize that property, which was zoned for "public use" for 150 years. UC has had the property tax-free for 50 years because of its public education "mission." UC figured that real estate development is a lot more lucrative than college classes for working people. A compliant City Hall---and our "progressive" Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors---quickly rolled over for UC and the developers, ratifying UC's lies and greed.

During the campaign, maybe Supervisor Olague, on the Planning Commission at the time, will explain why allowing a predatory UC to rip off that property to fatten its real estate portfolio is good for the city and District 5.

The Waller Street access to that property ("a truly marvelous streetscaped pedestrian walkway") is nothing but a stairway, a bogus "open space" crumb the developers threw to the neighborhood during the planning process.

[Later: Selby's follow-up on Saturday's meeting. I made my public comment to the effect that any notion that District 8---or any district in the city---should qualify as a "gay" district is misguided re the LBGT center, that population numbers should determine whether the UC development should be in District 5 or District 8.]  

The Road We've Traveled: Re-electing Obama

The entire Obama re-election video is much better than the trailer, which used the Osama Bin Laden assassination as a hook, even though that was far from the most important decision President Obama has made in the last three years. Reforming the medical system, reforming the financial system---good to see that Elizabeth Warren is part of the video---equal pay for women, gays in the military, and the rescue of the American auto industry were all much more important decisions.

Residents in the Mission, Dogpatch, and Bernal Heights fight predatory parking policy

The Townsend Street meter project is a perfect example of bureaucratic waste: millions wasted to stripe, sign and install meters on the 300- 400- and 500-blocks of Townsend and NO ONE parks there anymore, unless they have a handicap placard.

A coalition of residents in the Mission, Dogpatch, Potrero Hill and Mission Bay have launched a website to protest the SFpark program:

Residents across San Francisco are saying that the SFpark Experiment is an EPIC FAILURE, run by a $20M grant from the federal government, it has no oversight, and has done little outreach to find out what businesses and residents need for parking in their community.

It's clear that SFpark doesn't have a clue about the community which it is serving planting meters all over the city in an attempt to "regulate parking" that in many areas doesn't need regulating. People in the neighborhoods are already paying property taxes, business taxes, vehicle license fees, sales taxes (SFCTA brings in $70-$80 million a year in sales taxes for city transportation projects) gas taxes, residential parking fees, and, if they're unlucky or careless, parking tickets.

This is a transparent attempt to raise taxes on citizens to support over EIGHT THOUSAND City employees making over $100,000 a year under the guise of “going green.”

A previous post on the issue

The Dogpatch Howler

Mission Local's excellent coverage  

Portland Oregonian censors Doonesbury

People complain about the SF Chronicle, but it could be worse. Unlike the Portland Oregonian, at least the Chron doesn't censor Doonesbury.

Thanks to Jack Bog's Blog for the story.

Action on the Harding Theater?

I first wrote about the Harding Theater issue in 2005 shortly after I started this blog---and shortly after Ross Mirkarimi was first elected District 5 Supervisor. Seven years ago this week, Mirkarimi talked about the Harding at a Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Association meeting:

Ross warned HANC members Thursday night that he doesn't want to end up with nothing but a derelict Harding Theater "if we don't get our way" on the issue. He pointed out that the Harding theater "looks terrible" from the street. In short, the neighborhood will have to live with condos on the site if he can't get the votes.

Fortunately---or unfortunately, as the case may be---he got the votes to stop the planned development on the property: 18 condos and some retail space fronting on Divisadero. The people who wanted to save the Harding never had the money to do anything with the property once the city had put the extra hurdles in the way of any development, which is why the property has blighted the middle of Divisadero all these years.

Now comes a group of local residents who are serious about doing something with the property: Neighbors Developing Divisadero. They deserve all the encouragement we can give them. They don't have a website yet, but you can get on their mailing list here: hardingtheater@gmail.com

Take their survey here.

Melodrama Obama

Obama should put a stop to this type of pitch, and I say that as an Obama supporter. With all due respect to Vice-President Biden and Bill Clinton, writing President Obama into Profiles in Courage because he gave a green light to killing Osama Bin Laden just won't do, especially after he was known as "no-drama Obama" during the campaign. Yes, he took a chance that the mission could have failed; it would have been a bad metaphor for his re-election campaign, like the abortive hostage rescue attempt under President Carter. But the guys who carried out the mission risked their lives, which is their job. Making tough decisions is the job Barack Obama applied for when he ran for president. You asked for it, pal! 

Striking Mount Rushmore-like poses about killing Osama Bin Laden for campaign videos---though that was a good job well-done---just makes him look like a ham and, well, a drama queen.   

The progressive love affair with trains

Cartoon by John Pritchett of the Hawaii Reporter

I've written before about the love liberals have for trains. Actually, everybody likes trains, but train systems are more expensive to build and operate than bus systems and are thus not a solution to urban traffic congestion for cash-strapped cities and states. Hawaii is the latest state to flirt with a ruinously expensive rail system.

Randal O'Toole's recent presentation on that proposal. [Later: his follow-up post on the subject]

Wendell Cox on Hawaii's rail proposal.

O'Toole's deconstruction of Portland's ongoing planning fiasco.

The MTA's budget problem: The Central Subway

"Okay Ed, now that I made you mayor, keep the $30,000 a month
coming for the Chinatown Community Development Center."

As the MTA grapples with its budget deficit, let's look at the main reason for all that red ink: the Central Subway project, a political deal disguised as a transportation project---and a poorly designed project at that.

According to Streetsblog, MTA's deficit is "19.6 million over the next fiscal year and $33.6 million in the following year---as well as a $120 million backlog in Muni vehicle maintenance and infrastructure improvements."

Those numbers don't look so daunting when you consider that the city is pouring $287,870,000 into the Central Subway pit according to page 4 of this city document. Since this document was created in 2009, the inevitable cost-overruns since probably make the total even higher.

The city pays the Chinatown Community Development Center, a strong supporter of Mayor Lee and the Central Subway, $30,000 a month do to "community outreach" on the project.

The MTA is considering thousands of new parking meters and activating existing meters on Sunday to raise more money from motorists, even though the city is already raising more than $170 million a year from parking meters, parking lots, and parking tickets. 

San Francisco isn't the only city pursuing foolish rail systems even as the bus system people rely on is cut back. Portland, our sister city in Political Correctness, has a transportation system that is drowning in red ink because of dumb rail projects:

...The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), the regional transit agency that runs buses, commuter rail and light rail, faces a budget shortfall of up to $17 million next fiscal year. The Portland Bureau of Transportation, which manages the streetcar, faces a $16 million gap. Local officials are still crafting those budgets, but it’s virtually certain that leaders of a region long known for a commitment to multimodal transportation will have to increase fares and reduce service to balance budgets in 2013...

At the same time it works its way through seemingly intractable budget problems, TriMet is pursuing a massive expansion: A seven-mile, $1.5 billion light rail line to the suburb Milwaukie is scheduled to come online in 2015. That’s caused some observers to scratch their heads, wondering how the agency can have enough money for new projects but not enough to keep up existing operations. “They’re closing their eyes and jumping,” says Andersen. “They’re running on faith. And hopefully their faith is justified---it always has been in the past. I hope they’re right. I fear they’re wrong.”

Thanks to the Antiplanner for the link to the Portland story.

Thanks to Save Muni for the Epoch link.

The Matoff study mentioned in the Epoch story.

And the Grand Jury report on the Central Subway.

The Huffington Post and domestic abuse

The Huffington Post's San Francisco editor thinks Ross Mirkarimi should resign as sheriff just because he's been charged---not convicted---of domestic abuse. Seems odd that the HuffPost would then publish an unconvincing rationalization of domestic abuse in the Koran by a Moslem.

One would think that a website created by a woman would be more sensitive on the issue, like Tina Brown's the Daily Beast, which publishes an account of how a Moslem family bullies and threatens to kill one of its daughters, which is not unusual in Moslem countries. The Daily Beast, with Newsweek, is also sponsoring the Women in the World summit.

Thanks to Jihad Watch for the link.

More on Islam and domestic violence.