March 12 2003

Hall Monitor

Harbor loan OKed: The City Services Committee, with Sups. Bevan Dufty, Fiona Ma, and Gavin Newsom voting in favor, gave the city's Recreation and Park Department authority Feb. 27 to apply for about $35 million in state loans to rebuild the boat harbor in the Marina District. The full Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the issue March 18.

Ma and Dufty agreed to support the loan application at the urging of Newsom, who has been pushing for a harbor overhaul for several years. The facility has deteriorated over time, and some boat owners complain that their crafts aren't adequately protected from surging tides.

But critics of the department's plans say local officials shouldn't ask for the money until they have completed an environmental review of the project, which calls for building two protective barriers (called breakwaters) in the bay. They say the breakwaters would ruin the view of the bay from the Marina Green and could disrupt tidal patterns and increase sedimentation and erosion of the shore (see "Boats and Bay Fill," 2/26/03).

Critics also say much of the overhaul is unnecessary and aimed at making the harbor more appealing to an upscale clientele. They point to the fact that the number of boat berths would actually drop from 668 to 628 and be made to accommodate much bigger – and probably more expensive – crafts. The number of 20- and 25-foot-long slips would drop from 265 to 16, while the number of 40- to 50-foot-long slips would more than double from 115 to 235.

The Sierra Club opposes the deal. "The Marina Green is for everybody, not just owners of big boats," said John Rizzo of the club's San Francisco chapter. (Savannah Blackwell)

Campaign Watch

Follow the money: Already the brutal city budget is starting to define the San Francisco mayor's race. It's tough to be a candidate for the city's top job in a year when any honest candidate has to admit there won't be a lot of money for new goodies. Nobody wants to infuriate the voters (and city-employee unions) by proposing to axe programs. And thanks to state law, it's hard to raise taxes this year – most real tax plans would require a two-thirds vote of the electorate.

Sup. Tom Ammiano is looking to scare up some cash by trimming from the top. He's proposing to cut the salaries of city employees who make more than $90,000 a year. His proposal could free up $20 million for crucial city services.

At the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Feb. 25 meeting, Ammiano asked budget analyst Harvey Rose to inform all city department heads they should cut 10 to 20 percent of the cost of positions paying more than $90,000 a year. Some of that may come from eliminating jobs; the rest would have to come from pay cuts. And since there are some 2,150 of those top-dollar jobs, his plan would yield real savings.

Not to be outdone, Treasurer Susan Leal held a press conference with Sup. Chris Daly and Assessor-Recorder Mabel Teng on Feb. 26, at which Leal, who is also running for mayor, said she would direct to the fiscally hurting school district several million dollars her office collects from businesses that are late in paying their taxes. (Blackwell)