Supervisor Mirkarimi: phony budget hawk
Melissa Griffin quotes Supervisor Mirkarimi on his new political identity---budget hawk: "There have got to be some larger strategies[to deal with the City's constant deficit]...but it doesn't mean we should ignore the smaller ones." The Murk is particularly concerned with the cost of the mayor's security.
But he chooses to ignore the cost of having city cops babysit the monthly Critical Mass demonstration---$10,000 a month!---probably because he endorses Critical Mass, and the SF Bicycle Coalition, which endorsed him for re-election, is his favorite special interest group. Now that the Bicycle Coalition has evidently stopped listing/endorsing Critical Mass on its online calendar, maybe he and Leah Shahum will take the next responsible step and renounce the demonstration and discourage the city's bike people from taking part.
Labels: Critical Mass, Ross Mirkarimi
posted by Rob Anderson @ 12:54 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I once e-mailed Mirk about his support for an expensive contract for solid waste removal from SF. There had been a cheaper bid from another company but he supported renewing the contract with the incumbent company. His response was that "cheaper is not always better". As if waste removal was subjective like which car to buy.
I'm not familiar with the garbage contract issue, but I've followed the Murk's awful progress as he led the charge for both the terrible Market/Octavia Plan---40-story residential highrises at Market and Van Ness!---and UC's ripoff of the old extension property on lower Haight Street. And of course he voted for the luxury highrise condos on Rincon Hill in a city desperate for affordable housing. Interesting that one of our most leftist supervisors has been our most pro-development supervisor. Only the recession has delayed these destructive development projects, but they can be revived as soon as the recession is over and developers can get financing.
The thing about Mirkarimi is that he buys completely into whatever the Planning Dept. drones put in front of him. He's evidently incapable of forming an independent judgment on these huge projects---based on the half-baked "transit corridors" theory---as if the people in Planning have any special insight into what's good for the city.
Of course he's been the primary errand boy for the Bicycle Coalition and endorses Critical Mass.
And then there's his support for a new trial for convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal, along with his support for a US surrender in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just an awful record on local issues, topped off with knee-jerk leftism on national and international issues.
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