Farewell St. Francis: On May 23 the Planning Commission approved the demolition of the St. Francis Theater, Market Street's now defunct second-run movie house, to make way for a high-rise apartment building. While 12 percent of its 151 units will be designated affordable, the rest will be "luxury condos," according to a Nov. 23, 2001, article in the San Francisco Business Times. Luxury condos? On Market Street?

In its 1920s heyday the St. Francis was a single-screen theater that showed all the latest silent films. But remodeling in the '40s and '50s put it beyond the reach of preservationists. The same was true for Polk Street's Royal Theater, approved for demolition earlier this month.

Fortunately, there may still be time to save Cinema 21 on Chestnut Street, which goes before the Planning Commission May 30. For more information call the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation at (415) 896-7677 or visit www.sfneighborhoodtheater.org. (Cassi Feldman)

Dissing the organized? Mayor Willie Brown's decision not to sign a Board of Supervisors resolution urging the San Francisco Examiner to engage in fair bargaining with its fledgling prepress workers union left many city hall observers wondering if his loyalty to the Fang family, which owns the Examiner, is stronger than his historic ties to organized labor.

The supervisors May 6 resolution, which still stands without the mayor's signature, urged the Examiner's management to "bargain in good faith to reach a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement with its prepress employees, who have chosen union representation." On May 17 the mayor returned it unsigned. Several attempts to reach Brown were unsuccessful.

Some insiders suggested the mayor might simply be keeping his options open and trying not to offend either side.

Sup. Tom Ammiano, one of the sponsors of the resolution, told us the mayor missed an opportunity to help negotiate. "It's a little baffling and disappointing since he has been committed to so many labor issues," he said. "It would be an opportune time, since he has eggs in both baskets, to even do some mediation or brokering here."

Brown has played that role often in the past. And union members have dug deep into their pockets at election time to keep him in office. Organized labor contributed $715,879 in soft money alone to his 1999 reelection effort – more than a third of the independent expenditures that supported his campaign.

And when the Fangs first took over the Examiner in 2000, Brown coordinated a meeting between them and organized labor. Union representatives said at the time that they hoped the Fangs would agree to at least be neutral in the event of an organizing drive, but no agreement was publicly announced. (Rachel Brahinsky)

Tax wars: As if the Assessor's Office didn't have enough problems, now comes word that it is suing the Assessment Appeals Board – on the taxpayers' dime – for what amounts to a procedural mistake.

In 1993 the assessor determined that the IBM Personal Pension Plan had assumed ownership of 1 Market Plaza, a downtown office building, without disclosing the transaction, in order to avoid a costly reassessment (see "Tax Men," 9/19/01).

The resulting legal action has spanned nearly a decade, with all sorts of hearings and appeals. In August 2001 it seemed to be coming to a close, when the Assessment Appeals Board, led by Ronald Chun, charged the company $27 million (plus the $18 million it had already paid). But the saga didn't end there. Apparently the board decided, after the fact, that it had overcharged IBM by $2 million, and issued a clarification with the revised figures – a move that didn't sit well with the assessor.

On May 10 the city filed suit on behalf of the assessor against the board. Chun, who has recused himself from the case, said the board simply wanted to be fair and correct a mistake. But according to the suit, that wasn't within its jurisdiction. Besides, some wonder, why should anything be offered back to a company that tried to swindle the city?

Regardless of its intent, however, the litigation will likely require both sides to seek outside counsel, costing the city thousands in legal fees.

"We've always been in favor of a mediated resolution to all parties," said Wayne Lesser, the attorney who originally blew the whistle on IBM. "I have never seen a situation where people have just refused to sit down and try to make something work. The whole thing is turning into a three-ring circus of horrors." (Feldman)

Making amends: SCA 7, the state constitutional amendment that would make access to government information a constitutional right of the public, received unanimous approval from the Senate Governmental Organization Committee May 21.

Senate speaker pro tem John Burton, the author of the proposed amendment, has made several changes to it. Modifications include exempting certain meetings and records of the state's courts, enforcing privacy for state employee medical records and other personal information, and providing a review process before disclosing police officer personnel files.